Prince Harry used psychedelics to help him process grief over Princess Diana's death

Prince Harry has revealed he used psychedelic drugs to help him cope with his grief over the death of his mother Princess Diana.

The British royal revealed to Anderson Cooper on America's 60 Minutes on Sunday that he resorted to "drinking heavily" and taking drugs such as marijuana and cocaine in his 20s to help numb his pain and distract him from the anger he felt about his mother's tragic death in Paris in 1997.

Cooper then noted that Harry has also tried experimental therapy using psychedelics such as "ayahuasca, psilocybin, mushrooms" to help with his grief.

"I would never recommend people to do this recreationally," Harry said. "But doing it with the right people, if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine.

"For me, they cleared the windscreen, the windshield, the misery of loss. They cleared away this idea that I had in my head that I needed to cry to prove to my mother that I missed her. When in fact, all she wanted was for me to be happy."

The 38-year-old told Cooper that he felt a "weight" on his chest "for so many years" because he was - and still is - unable to cry about Diana's death. He revealed that he "was constantly trying to find a way to cry", such as watching videos of Diana online, until his drug-induced epiphany.

The royal, who was 12 when his mother passed away in a car crash, also admitted that he "refused to accept" her death for many years.

"Part of, you know, she would never do this to us, but also part of, maybe this is all part of a plan," he shared. "For a time, and then that she would call us and that we would go and join her, yeah."

Harry gave the interview to promote his new memoir Spare, which will be released on Tuesday.