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He feared people will struggle to deal with the “anxiety, the isolation, the unprecedented uncertainty, job losses”, that the health crisis has brought in its wake. The Duke of Cambridge urged his fellow country people to open up and talk about any mental health issues they may have with their friends and/or families. Appearing in the BBC documentary Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health on Thursday night, the Duke said: “There’s going to be no better time to talk about your mental health than right now.

“It’s going to have lasting repercussions that will take several months for the country to process, the nation is going to need to be thinking more about its mental health than ever before.”

He added: “The best advice I can give is to have that first conversation, that first conversation can open so many doors and provide so much relief.

“It’s hard to overestimate that. Try and have that first conversation with a family member or a friend.

“If you need to find support there is stuff online there are places to go.

“The mental health sector is doing a fantastic job of maintaining and building the services I support for people around the country.”

He concluded: ‘We are going to struggle to deal with the anxiety, the isolation, the unprecedented uncertainty, job losses, whatever it might be it is going to affect everybody in different way.

“That does worry me a lot we have to be mindful of looking after all of the society going forwards.”

The BBC documentary followed the work of the Heads Up Campaign, a charity that seeks to use football to address mental health issues in men.

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The charity wants in its own words “to encourage more men to feel comfortable talking about their mental health and feel able to support their friends and families through difficult times”.

As president of the Football Association, the Duke of Cambridge is heavily involved in the project.

During the programme William spoke candidly about how the birth of his children brought back painful memories of the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

He described becoming a parent as the most “amazing” but also “scariest” moment of his life, particularly as he did not have the emotional support of his mother to fall back on.

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However, he revealed how his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, has helped him face the challenges of parenthood and how this has brough them closer together.

The Prince made his frank admissions during a conversation with the ex-footballer Marvin Sordell.

The former professional footballer told William how the birth of his child in 2017 was the “hardest time in my life”, as it brought back painful memories of his absent father.

Mr Sordell said: “It was the hardest time in my life.

“You know I found it really tough…I grew up without my father…I really struggled with my emotions at that time.”

The Duke of Cambridge empathised, relating his own experiences of becoming a father and how it reignited painful emotions about his deceased mother.

“Having children is the biggest life changing moment, it really is”, he said.

“I think when you’ve been through something traumatic in life, and that is like you say, your Dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger, the emotions come back, in leaps and bounds.

“I definitely found it very, at times, overwhelming.”

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