Prince Harry has held a gathering of top sportspeople to discuss the public perceptions of mental health.
He told the BBC that the event was an opportunity to highlight that anyone can suffer from mental health issues.
Amongst the guests was footballer Rio Ferdinand, cyclist Victoria Pendleton and athletes Dame Kelly Holmes and Iwan Thomas. Some had spoken publicly about dealing with depression.
The former Manchester United defender Ferdinand had lost his wife last year to cancer, and knew that he and his children were going to experience the same mental issues as Prince Harry did, when he lost his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.
“It is very easy for someone to look at someone like Rio Ferdinand and say, ‘You get paid all the money in the world, you are a successful footballer, you have fast cars.’ But at the end of the day his wife was snatched from him at an early stage of his life with her”, Prince Harry told the BBC.
“So of course he is going to suffer, it doesn’t matter if he has an amazing job.”
Other sporting stars recalled times of depression, in particular former European spring champion Iwan Thomas. His career was cut short by multiple injuries in 2004, shortly before the Athens Olympics.
“I think yes, depression definitely. I didn’t have one injury that was suddenly like ‘you have to retire tomorrow’ that almost might have been easier – being dealt a really bad blow.”
Around one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem this year, and just under one in five will experience anxiety and depression in their lifetimes.