Prince William Wants to 'Normalize' Mental Health Taboo: 'This Silence is Killing Good People'

Prince William and Kate Middleton continue their pursuit of starting up a bigger discussion about mental health in society.

The royal couple looked sharp at the Guild of Health Writers Conference with Heads Together at Chandos House on Monday night (February 6) in London, England.

The event was part of Children’s Mental Health Week – William and Kate started off their day with a visit to the Mitchell Brook Primary School for the Place2Be Big Assembly.

At the Health Writers Conference – focusing on “The Anxiety Epidemic” – William delivered an emotional speech urging the crowd of health journalists to join forces.

“Mental health was the great taboo,” he said. “If you were anxious, it’s because you were weak. If you couldn’t cope with whatever life threw at you, it’s because you were failing. Successful, strong people don’t suffer like that, do they? But of course – we all do. It’s just that few of us speak about it.”

Also pictured inside: More photos of William and Kate at the Place2Be Big Assembly.

FYI: Kate is wearing Oscar de la Renta.

Click inside to hear what else he had to say…

“It was suicide, a subject that is so often hidden,” he went on. “The suicide rate among young men in this country is an appalling stain on our society. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 40 in this country. Not cancer, not knife crime, not road deaths – suicide. If one of these other issues took so many young lives, there would be a national outcry. This silence is killing good people.”

“My employer, I’m proud to say, knows about the value of normalizing mental health, and treating it with the same respect that we confer on physical health,” he added. “This should be the norm.”