KATE MIDDLETON experienced “bouts of anxiety” and difficulty sleeping after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced their decision to step down as senior royals.
The Duke of Sussex has created a mental health documentary along with Oprah Winfrey that will be available on AppleTV+ from tomorrow. 
The programme, entitled The Me You Can’t See, will feature several other celebrities including Lady Gaga and Glenn Close, who will discuss their own experiences and the stigma around mental health.
Meanwhile, Harry is set to open up about the trauma he experienced after the death of his mother and how he has been in therapy for four years to try and deal with that pain.
He has previously spoken about how his decision to leave the Royal Family was largely to do with not wanting “history to repeat itself”. However, their decision to leave their roles had ripple effects on the other royals.
Harry’s brother Prince William and his sister-in-law Kate are now shouldering a heavier burden than before, as the responsibilities the Sussexes previously had are now being shared out between the others.
They have also had to deal with the backlash from comments Harry and Meghan have made since leaving, including the serious accusations made in their interview with Oprah earlier this year. Prince William was asked outside an engagement whether the Royal Family was racist to which he said they were “very much” not racist.
There were even reports last year that Kate was “in a panic” and struggling to sleep because her mind was “constantly racing” in the wake of the Sussexes’ decision.
A source told US Weekly in January 2020: “Kate’s in a panic and has been having bouts of anxiety. “She barely has time to rest, and when she does try to sleep, her mind is constantly racing.” The source also claimed that Kate was “already stretched pretty thin” and working 18 hours days.
They concluded: “Now she’s really worried about how she’ll juggle the extra workload on top of her family life.” In terms of her relationship with Meghan, the source said they “couldn’t be further apart”.
Kate is a full-time working royal on top of being a mum to three young children: Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, six and Prince Louis, three. During the coronavirus lockdown, all three were home from school and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had to balance homeschooling with work as well.
William was the brains behind the Royal Family’s decision to start doing video calls to stay visible and keep in touch with their patronages, which ended up being hugely successful. However, Kate admitted in a video call with fellow parents that lockdown and homeschooling had left her “exhausted”.
William, Kate and Harry have all been mental health advocates for years, starting their Heads Together campaign and encouraging people to speak up if they are struggling. However, Harry admitted in his interview with Oprah earlier this year that he had been “ashamed” to admit to his family that Meghan needed help.
Meanwhile, Meghan said she had been experiencing suicidal thoughts while she was pregnant with Archie. She accused the institution of the Royal Family of not adequately helping her when she needed it most. William and Harry’s mother Princess Diana also struggled with mental illness.
She admitted that she had suffered from postpartum depression and bulimia in her interview with BBC Panorama in 1995.
