Prince Harry had to "cleanse" himself "of the past" before having children.

The Duke of Sussex, 41, became a first-time father in 2019 when he welcomed his son, Prince Archie, with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and the couple became parents again in 2021 when their daughter Princess Lilibet arrived - and Harry has now insisted he had "stuff from the past" he needed to address before he could think about raising kids of his own.

During a talk on stage in Australia at an event focused on fatherhood and hosted by the Movember charity on Wednesday (15.04.26), Harry said: "Certainly from a therapy standpoint, you want to be the best version of yourself for your kids.

"And I knew that I had stuff from the past that I needed to deal with and therefore, prepare myself to basically cleanse myself of the past."

Harry went on to reveal he felt a "disconnection" in the early days after his children were born, explaining: "My wife was the one creating life, and I was there to witness it ...

"I think for many guys, you try to think about what service can I provide at this point, because my work here is done to some extent.

"And then when it comes back around again, I think the biggest tip that I was given, actually, from my therapist in the UK, was just be aware of how you feel once the baby is born.

"Every single time I went to work and I came back - if I was stressed, the moment that I held Archie, he would start crying ... Fatherhood is the most important and sort of transformational role that a guy can ever, can ever move into."

Harry added of parenting: "From my perspective, our kids are our upgrade. That's not how I was taught but that was my take on it - not to say I was an upgrade of my dad or that my kids are an upgrade of me.

"That's the approach that I take, to know that with the world the way that it goes, the kids that we bring up in today's world need to be an upgrade."

He also offered advice to other dads, saying: "To the dads and soon-to-be dads: yes, it's messy. You'll have a rollercoaster of emotions - and don't judge yourself."

The talk took place with Movember's global director of men's health research Dr Zac Seidler at the Whitten Oval, the training ground of Australian rules football club the Western Bulldogs, and during the day Harry also took the time to have a kickabout on the field and was presented with Western Bulldogs shirts emblazoned with the names of his children.