Update 9th October: Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new mental health website, Every Mind Matters, reportedly crashed after so many fans attempted to watch their short film.
According to the BBC, after the campaign film debuted on Sky, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and MTV on Monday evening, the Every Mind Matters website intermittently flashed the message on screen: 'Something went wrong. Please refresh or try again later.'
A Public Health England spokesperson reportedly said: 'We think it was due to high traffic. We had technicians working on it immediately and we're back up and running now.'
Months after Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle formally split royal households and from their joint charity The Royal Foundation, the royal ‘Fab Four’ have joined forces once again for an important cause.
On Sunday, the four royals teamed up to launch Public Heath England’s new digital platform – Every Mind Matters – and ‘starred’ in a special film to release the venture, set up in partnership with the NHS.
The film, which aims to highlight the importance of helping people make simple changes in order to prioritise their mental health by using the platform, sees the foursome open up about why you should seek help when you’re struggling psychologically.
‘Everyone knows that feeling, when life gets on top of us,’ the Duke of Cambridge says in the trailer, which was written by screenwriter Richard Curtis and directed by Rankin.
‘We feel stressed, low, anxious or have trouble sleeping,’ Prince Harry adds. ‘We think there's nothing that can be done, nothing we can do about it.’
‘But now, there's a new way to help turn things around,’ states the Duchess of Sussex.
‘Every Mind Matters will show you simple ways to look after your mental health,’ Kate adds.
‘It will get you started with a free online plan designed to help you deal with stress, boost your mood, improve your sleep and make you feel more in control.’
The four royals are joined in the video by several celebrities who have spoken about their own mental health struggles including Gillian Anderson, Glenn Close, Freddie Flintoff, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Nadiya Hussain, Katie Piper, Joe Sugg and Alastair Campbell.
The film is scheduled to air at 8.45pm on Monday night across ITV, Channel 4 and Sky channels.
The launch follows 18 months of planning and local and regional piloting, developed with clinical and academic experts, national mental health charities and input from people with experience of poor mental health.
Every Mind Matters is backed by a coalition of mental health charities and champions, including Mind, Mental Health Foundation, MHFA England, Samaritans, Heads Together, Centre for Mental Health, Rethink, Time to Change, NSUN, What Works Centre for Wellbeing and Good Thinking.
The project comes weeks after the Duchess of Cambridge spoke with Curtis about the new project at Kensington Palace earlier this month at the Public Health England conference.
The Love Actually director, who lost his sister to suicide in 2017, said: ‘I was so privileged, and we had so much money and so much access and still couldn't do anything.
‘I can't believe what it must be like for someone whose relatives aren't in that situation and they have nothing.’
In 2017, Prince Harry opened up about how he learnt to finally grieve his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, following her death 20 years prior, admitting that he sought counselling.
‘I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well,’ the Prince told The Telegraph.
From tips on how to get more physical activity, to mindful breathing exercises and advice on how to reframe unhelpful thoughts, visit Every Mind Matters here.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
