Prince Harry has revealed a parenting tactic that helps him calm his children down when they get upset.
The Duke of Sussex shared his experiences raising Archie and Lilibet during a video event to promote his memoir, Spare.
Harry was joined by Dr Gabor Maté, an expert in trauma and childhood development, to discuss living with loss, the importance of personal healing and how raising children changed them.
The conversation covered a range of topics from the war in Afghanistan to illegal drug taking before moving on to raising children, something both the Prince and Dr Maté are doing.
Harry, who is dad to Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, also shared his secret for calming down his children when they were crying or upset.
He said: “Your kids pick up on your energy more than you will ever know.
“If you had asked me about energy, seven, eight, ten years ago I would said: ‘What are you talking about’
“When I had my first child I realised what was going on.”
He continued: “It is all about energy. Sometimes I’d have to remove myself from the room, take a deep breath, let it out.
“And literally try and change my whole energy and go back in there. And all of a sudden he’s falling asleep in my arms. “
Harry also shared that he believes children should have space to experience anger and frustration, saying that everyone should take the time to shout into their pillow.
He said: “If they have a moment of frustration, allow them to have that and then talk to them about it afterwards.
“Kids having those outbursts I think is part of growing up.”
The parenting trick was just one of the many things Harry revealed during the almost-two-hour long chat.
He also told Canadian author Dr Maté how he realised he needed to escape his family after undergoing therapy.
Harry, 38, said: “I realised that I’d learned a new language and people that I was surrounded by once, they didn’t speak the language – and so I actually felt more pushed aside.”
Dr Maté said Harry’s “rich life” had been “deprived of touch” from his father and grandmother, the late Queen.
Harry said elements of his childhood were incredibly painful and that he always felt slightly different to other royals. He drew parallels with his mum Diana, who died in a road crash in 1997 after divorcing Charles.
Harry said: “I felt strange being in this container and I know that my mum felt the same. It makes sense to me. I felt as though my body was in there and my head was out and sometimes it was vice-versa.”
Asked whether readers would see Spare as him “wallowing in self pity”, Harry replied: “I definitely don’t see myself as a victim.”
