Prince and Princess of Wales take over Radio 1 Newsbeat

The Prince and Princess of Wales have taken over BBC Newsbeat to present a mental health special.

The royals have become reporters, visiting Radio 1's Live Lounge to hear the experiences of four guests.

They spoke about the importance of opening up and building a "toolbox" to help you deal with unexpected obstacles in your personal life.

The full show, recorded on World Mental Health Day, airs later on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network.

Prince William said the couple wanted to "have a meaningful conversation about mental health".

Their guests were 24-year-old mental health advocate António Ferreria, Emma Hardwell from charity The Mix, music therapist Ben Cowley and Dr Abigail Miranda from the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families.

During the discussion, they spoke about stigmas around mental health, the pressures of social media and the importance of opening up.

'Never discussed'

Panel guest António told the prince and princess he was a "model student" and high achiever growing up but the pressure and expectation became a "boulder on my back".

He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and emotionally unstable personality disorder as a teenager after a teacher noticed a change in his behaviour.

He was treated on a psychiatric unit over a two-year period and "came out of there a different man", he told Prince William, saying it was during this time and through talking to fellow patients that the importance of looking after his mental health hit home.

The royals, watched over by Newsbeat presenter Pria Rai, heard from four panellists about their mental health experiences

António, who is of African heritage, said "mental health was never a topic of discussion" in his youth.

"It's a thing I call over-resilience, we've been made to be so over-resilient that we push away those vulnerabilities and those weaknesses," he said.

António said he was eventually inspired to speak about his experiences to help others, and is now studying for his Psychology with Cognitive Neuroscience degree.

He has since worked with various mental health charities and recently advised EastEnders scriptwriters on a schizophrenia storyline.

"There was a few hurdles I had to overcome in this journey, first was accepting my mental health," he says.

'No right or wrong'

William and Catherine asked questions about a range of mental health-related topics

Prince William urged people to build a "toolbox" of techniques and coping strategies to help them deal with unexpected obstacles.

"A lot of people don't realise what they need until it actually comes along," he said.

"You can be living one life one minute and something massively changes and you realise you don't necessarily have the tools or experience to be able to tackle that.

"If we can't look after ourselves we're not going to be able to tackle the issues we feel we have to on a day-to-day basis," he said.

The princess added: "There's no right or wrong. Different things will work for different people and it's just sometimes trying different methods, different opportunities that arise to help best support you.

"Everyone has mental health, in the same way as their physical health we have to look after it, in the same way we go to the gym, we need to look after and nurture our minds as well."

The Prince and Princess of Wales are the younger face of modern monarchy. They are both very aware of their platform. Compared to others in the Royal Family they have the ear of younger audiences and they want to use the attention they get to make positive change.

The royal interviewers asked questions about expressing emotions, the pressures of social media, the impact of the Covid pandemic and managing when your mental health is slipping.

Their roles have shifted since the death of the Queen. William is now heir to the throne. But the change in status has not impacted the kind of work they do and mental health and young people will remain a focus.

Newsbeat presenter Pria Rai said the prince and princess "made brilliant reporters - they came in relaxed and keen to chat to the panellists, doing the key part of every reporter's job by putting them at ease".

"We talk to our audience every day, but listening to them is just as much of a priority and I got the impression this was echoed by the prince and princess as they spoke about keepin- something you could tell was important to them both," Pria added.

The couple have been open about their desire to encourage better awareness around mental health issues.

One of their first engagements since becoming The Prince and Princess of Wales was a visit to a suicide prevention charity in Northern Ireland last week.

• You can listen to the full programme at 12:45 on Tuesday here.

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