London, July 25 (IANS) Britain's Prince Harry has said he wishes he had spoken about the death of his mother, Princess Diana, earlier.
"You know, I really regret not ever talking about it (his mother, Princess Diana's death)," Prince Harry told the former England football captain Rio Ferdinand, BBC reported.
The Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997, when the Prince was 12.
"It is OK to suffer, but as long as you talk about it. It is not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognising it and not solving that problem," the 31-year-old Prince told the BBC.
The Prince was attending an event for mental health charity, 'Heads Together', which was attended by a number of sports stars.
Footballer Rio Ferdinand, athletes Dame Kelly Holmes and Iwan Thomas, and cyclist Victoria Pendleton -- some of whom have spoken publicly about dealing with depression -- attended the event.
Prince Harry said the event was an opportunity to show that "unflappable" sporting personalities can also suffer from mental health problems like everyone else, including members of the Royal Family.
Prince Harry formed 'Heads Together' with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to bring together leading mental health charities.
"A lot of people think if you've got a job, if you've got financial security, if you've got a family, you've got a house, all that sort of stuff, everyone seems to think that this is all you need and you are absolutely fine to deal with stuff," the Prince said.
He told the BBC, "It is very easy for anyone 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."
"So of course he is going to suffer, it doesn't matter if he has an amazing job," Harry added.
Former European sprint champion Thomas told the Prince how he suffered when his career was cut short by an injury.
Prince Harry also spoke to Dame Kelly, who told him of the mental issues she fought after suffering injuries before the 2004 Olympics, where she won gold in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres.
"I had depression going through my athletics career, no-one knew at all what I was going through. I was having treatment and they thought I was crying because the treatment was so hard," she said.
"It's really been the last three or four years that I've been more open," she added.
