I had to ‘cleanse myself of my past’ before having children, says Harry as he reveals the ‘disconnection’ he felt to son Archie on tour of Australia

Prince Harry has said he had to ‘cleanse’ himself of the past before having children as he revealed the ‘struggles’ of fatherhood and the ‘disconnection’ he felt towards his son Archie while his wife Meghan was pregnant.

The Duke of Sussex also discussed his experiences of therapy as he told an audience today that he knew he ‘had stuff from the past’ that he needed to deal with before he had children.

Harry made the comments while giving a talk on stage at an event about fatherhood hosted by Movember in Melbourne this morning during his four day tour of Australia with Meghan.

The Duke explained that he wanted to be the ‘best version’ of himself for his children Archie and Lilibet and that being a dad is the most important role a man can occupy.

Harry attended the event without Meghan, who has no scheduled public appearances today. Their children are at home in California.

He met with supporters of the men’s health charity at the Whitten Oval, the training and administrative headquarters of Australian rules football club Western Bulldogs.

The team presented Harry with personalised miniature shirts with Archie and Lilibet’s names printed on the back after arriving at the stadium.

Reflecting on taking part in therapy before the birth of his children, Harry said: ‘Certainly from a therapy standpoint, you want to be the best version of yourself for your kids.

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The Duke of Sussex speaks during a Q&A session with men’s health charity Movember at the Whitten Oval in Melbourne today

‘And I knew that I had stuff from the past that I needed to deal with, and therefore prepare myself to basically cleanse myself of the past.’

In a discussion on stage with Movember’s global director of men’s health research Dr Zac Seidler, Harry said: ‘Conversations that are now happening in households between kids and parents that never existed between me and my parents.’

He spoke about the evolving roles of parents, telling the guests: ‘From my perspective, our kids are our upgrade. That’s not how I was taught but that was my take on it – not to say I was an upgrade of my dad or that my kids are an upgrade of me.

‘That’s the approach that I take, to know that with the world the way that it goes, the kids that we bring up in today’s world need to be an upgrade.’

The Duke added: ‘There’s no judgment, there’s no blame, there’s no pointing the finger. The reality is that – however you are parenting – that is a personal experience to you, you are going to want to improve on that.

‘Obviously 40 years ago, there wasn’t social media, so that’s just one example of conversations that are now happening in households between kids and parents that never existed between me and my parents.’

The Duke said that men in the early days of fatherhood could experience feelings of detachment, adding: ‘certainly I felt a disconnection because my wife was the one creating life, and I was there to witness it’.

Wearing a taupe shirt and jeans, Harry said: ‘I think for many guys, you try to think about what service can I provide at this point, because my work here is done to some extent.

‘And then when it comes back around again, I think the biggest tip that I was given, actually, from my therapist in the UK, was just be aware of how you feel once the baby is born.

‘Every single time I went to work and I came back – if I was stressed, the moment that I held Archie, he would start crying.’

He added: ‘Fatherhood is the most important and sort of transformational role that a guy can ever, can ever move into.’

Harry also told the audience that he is ‘fortunate enough to be able to work from home’.

Giving a talk at a function room of the stadium, he added: ‘During Covid, it was like, well, this working from home thing is really not great when you have like small kids running around, jumping into your meetings.’

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Prince Harry kicks an Australian rules football during a session with the Western Bulldogs

Harry then took to the Aussie rules football pitch and had a kickabout with Western Bulldogs players Tom Liberatore, Adam Treloar and Matthew Kennedy in his Chelsea boots, while discussing the differences between the sport and rugby.

The Duke looked delighted and beamed as he ran across the pitch to have a kickabout with children, telling one boy: ‘Good kick man’ and ‘it’s a slippery ball that’.

He also posed for photographs while holding a Western Bulldogs scarf.

Harry also witnessed John Pearce (John Wiggle) and Lachlan Gillespie (Lachy Wiggle) from Australian children’s music group The Wiggles perform on the pitch and gave a little wiggle of his own in response.

The Movember movement, founded in Melbourne in 2003, is a global charity focused on improving men’s health, particularly in relation to mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

The campaign, which involves men growing moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness, has raised hundreds of millions of pounds across more than 20 countries – with ‘Mo’ commonly used in Australia as a slang term for moustache.

In the afternoon, Harry was welcomed by Indigenous veterans upon arriving at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and wafted smoke as part of a ceremony.

The Duke took part in the smoking ceremony at the site’s For Our Country memorial, which recognises and commemorates the military service and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their legacy.

He laid a wreath at the memorial and took part in the ceremony, where he wafted smoke from a fire pit containing burning leaves as members of the public watched on and police patrolled the site.

After being greeted by Indigenous veterans, Harry listened to a Welcome to Country address by the memorial’s Indigenous liaison officer Michael Bell, a Ngunnawal/Gomeroi man.

Wearing a suit and his military medals, the Duke was shown a gallery dedicated to Captain Reg Saunders, who in 1945 became the first Indigenous Australian to be commissioned as an officer into the country’s army.

Harry, who was not accompanied by the Duchess of Sussex, travelled from Melbourne to Canberra in the front row of a commercial Qantas flight, to the surprise of cabin crew who looked delighted to have the Duke on board.

Stunned members of the public waved and said ‘Hi Harry’ as he left Canberra airport on a gloriously sunny day in the capital.

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The Duke of Sussex at the Australian War Memorial site in Campbell, Canberra, today

Following a reinterpretation of the legal constraints on the Australian War Memorial’s scope, the Australian Frontier Wars between Indigenous Australians and mostly British settlers are to be included for the first time as part of a gallery planned to open in 2028.

The first conflicts of the Frontier Wars took place several months after the landing of the First Fleet in January 1788, and the last conflicts occurred in the early 20th century, following the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901.

The memorial had previously argued that frontier fighting in the country was outside its charter, as it did not involve Australian military forces.

This position received criticism from historians, who argued that such fighting should be commemorated at the memorial because it involved large numbers of Indigenous Australians and paramilitary or government-backed colonial forces.

In September 2022, the memorial’s outgoing chairman, Brendan Nelson, announced it would work towards ‘a much broader, much deeper depiction and presentation of the violence committed against Indigenous people’.

The Australian War Memorial is the nation’s principal memorial to those who have served and died in war and on operational service, combining a shrine, museum, and archive.

Opened in 1941, it stands as both a place of remembrance and a centre for preserving Australia’s military history.

The Memorial features galleries dedicated to the world wars, with more than 1.4million Australians serving in the armed forces across the First and Second World Wars.

More than 60,000 Australians died in the First World War, including thousands in the Gallipoli campaign to seize control of the Dardanelles from the Ottoman Empire.

Around one million Australians served in the Second World War, representing a massive mobilisation from a relatively small population.

All personnel of the Australian Defence Force swear an oath or make an affirmation of allegiance to the King in his role as the Australian monarch, pledging to serve Australia and, in the oath, to ‘resist his enemies’.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as working members of the Royal Family and moved to the US in 2020, citing a desire to be financially independent.

They last visited Australia in 2018 while still working royals – and have received a mixed reception on their latest trip to the country, where Harry’s father King Charles is the head of state.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne yesterday

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Harry and Meghan meet people at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne yesterday

The couple were greeted by hundreds of children and parents at a children’s hospital in Melbourne yesterday, who said their presence had brought hope to young patients there.

But many other Australians have questioned their reasons for visiting the country.

‘This is no royal visit but a continuation of tone-deaf hawking by a couple estranged from reality,’ an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald said ahead of the visit.

The couple’s travel is being privately funded, but local media reported some policing costs associated with the visit would be paid by Australian taxpayers, sparking a protest petition signed by more than 45,000 people.

In contrast to their previous visit, the Sussexes will also undertake commercial activities while in Australia, with Meghan remaining in the country to host a wellness retreat at a luxury beachside hotel in Sydney over the weekend.

Tickets for the event, which includes yoga, manifestation and sound healing, start at A$2,699 (£1,991) per person.

The Sussexes have been accused of using their royal links to treat Australia ‘like an ATM’ – due to the mix of charity events and private, money-making engagements they have planned.

At the hospital yesterday, Meghan urged Australians to ignore her royal title, telling them to ‘call me Meg’.

Aides also reassured staff that the couple were ‘relaxed’ about how they were addressed, saying: ‘Harry and Meghan is fine.’

Australia’s first poet laureate for veterans, Steve Cotterill, asked them: ‘How would you like me to address you?’

Harry shrugged with a smile and said: ‘However you like,’ before his wife said: ‘Call me Meg.’

On their first engagement, they received cheers as they met young cancer patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Meghan then went solo as she served frittata to residents at a women’s refuge.

She wore the late Princess Diana’s Cartier watch and a Tiffany gold bracelet paired with a £650 navy dress from local designer Karen Gee and Dior’s £525 ‘Dioressence’ pointed-toe pumps.