Prince Harry has been using his voice and platform to highlight many important issues like mental health and assisting his brother Prince William with his mental health awareness projects. He also shared with famous Patrick Hutchinson what he learned from his wife Meghan Markle in a powerful GQ interview.
Prince Harry and Patrick Hutchinson
British GQ published a beautiful interview between the Duke of Sussex and Patrick Hutchinson. Patrick can be recognized from a photo that went viral during a London Black Lives Matter Protest. An alleged far-right protester Bryn Male was injured during the clash and left-protester Hutchinson and a few other Black Lives Matter protesters immediately went into action to save the man.
Prince Harry was impressed that Patrick without hesitation stepped in to move Bryn from harm's way and get him medical attention considering the hate he was spewing only moments before.
Harry shared with Patrick that he has learned that unconscious bias is real and "having the upbringing and the education that I had, I had no idea what it was. I had no idea it existed. And then, sad as it is to say, it took me many many years to realize it, especially then living a day or a week in my wife's shoes." His wife very publicly takes the brunt of tabloid and public racial abuse as being one of the first people of color to be a part of the Royal family.
The Duke of Cambridge is "outraged"!
Patrick gave his perspective on how the public can better handle tough discussions of race, "To me it's always a tricky one to explain something like this... First of all, you have to be willing to listen, and have the conversation, have the uncomfortable conversations. Especially, for a white person, who wants to be told that they might potentially have a little bit of racism?"
"Tell the working-class white person that's worked really hard all their life to get where they are, that they've had a leg up. They're not going to have that." The pair connected on their fears of "saying the wrong thing" and Patrick assured viewers, "Everything is up for discussion because there's so much to talk about and people need to not be afraid. I think that can be a part of it. For some white people, I think they can be afraid. they're scared of saying the wrong thing, possibly.
Harry agreed and said, "Not everyone's going to get it right. And from what I've seen, people are desperately trying to get it right, and even when trying to get it right, get it massively wrong. And as long as everyone comes at it with an element of, as you say, compassion, because it is scary for people and it is the case that you're probably going to get it wrong, you just jump in both feet first."
The Duke continued, "And you may still get it wrong, but I guarantee you there'll be the right support structure and people around to go, 'You know what? A word of warning: maybe do this and don't say that.'"
The pair also touched on the importance of mental health awareness and care, especially now, "For so many people, but men especially, I guess, everyone's been suffering from some form of isolation over the last eight, nine months. But for men who are isolated by themselves this can be a really dark place unless you know the different solutions or different distractions that you can put into your life: whether it's going for a great walk or a run or just doing something that keeps you mentally and physically fit. So I love that."
A lot of powerful and meaningful topics were raised between Patrick and Prince Harry, to catch the whole interview, watch here:
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