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Prince Harry recently hosted an event at Kensington Palace for mental health charity, Heads Together, where he invited several high-profile sports stars to open up about their past experiences with mental health issues.

During the event, the 31-year-old told BBC he regrets not talking about his mother's death and the fact that anyone can be affected by mental illness, regardless of stature or financial position.

"You know, I really regret not ever talking about it, he said. "For the first 28 years of my life, I never talked about it."

"Everyone can suffer from mental health [issues], whether you're a member of the Royal family or a sports star or a white-van driver, or a mother or father," added the Prince, who lost his mother in a tragic car accident at the age of 12.

He elaborated: "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 is all you need and you are absolutely fine to deal with stuff."

Harry, who set up the charity with his brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate Middleton, advises people to talk about these issues rather than keep them bottled up inside.

He told BBC Breakfast: "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."

Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in 1997, when she was 36 years old.