Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, and is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Harry was educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College, before completing officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet in the Blues and Royals and served briefly alongside his elder brother, William, Prince of Wales. He was deployed twice on active service in Afghanistan: for ten weeks in Helmand Province during 2007–2008, and for twenty weeks with the Army Air Corps in 2012–2013. Inspired by the Warrior Games in the United States, Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2014 and remains actively involved as its patron. In 2016, together with his brother William and sister-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, he co-founded the mental health awareness initiative Heads Together.
In 2018, Harry was created Duke of Sussex ahead of his wedding to American actress Meghan Markle. The couple have two children, Archie and Lilibet. In January 2020, Harry and Meghan stepped back from their roles as working members of the royal family and relocated to Southern California. They subsequently established Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills–based organisation encompassing both commercial and charitable ventures. In March 2021, Harry and Meghan gave a widely publicised interview to Oprah Winfrey on Oprah with Meghan and Harry. In December 2022, they appeared in the Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan. In 2023, Harry published his memoir, Spare.
Early life
Harry was born at 4:20pm on 15 September 1984 at St Mary's Hospital, London, during the reign of his paternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. He was the second child of Charles, Prince of Wales, and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. He was christened Henry Charles Albert David on 21 December at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, by Robert Runcie, the then archbishop of Canterbury. From childhood he was known as "Harry" to family, friends, and the public, and was nicknamed "Harold" by his elder brother, William.Harry and William were raised at Kensington Palace in London, and at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. Diana sought to give her sons a broader range of experiences and a clearer understanding of ordinary life than previous generations of royal children. She took them to venues that ranged from Walt Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and homeless shelters. Harry began accompanying his parents on official visits at an early age; his first overseas tour was to Italy in 1985. He later travelled with his family to Canada in 1991 and 1998.
Harry's parents divorced in 1996. The following year, his mother died in a car crash in Paris while he and William were staying with their father at Balmoral Castle. Charles informed his sons of her death. At Diana's funeral, Harry, then aged 12, walked behind the cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey alongside his father, his brother, his paternal grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and his maternal uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer.
Harry and William inherited the "bulk" of the £12.9 million left by their mother on their 30th birthdays, a sum that had increased to about £10 million each by 2014. In the same year, they inherited Diana's wedding dress and many of her personal possessions, including dresses, diamond tiaras, jewellery, letters, and paintings. They also received the original lyrics and score of "Candle in the Wind", by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, as performed by John at Diana's funeral.
In 2002, The Times reported that Harry would share with his brother a disbursement of £4.9 million from trust funds established by their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, on their 21st birthdays, and a further £8 million on their 40th birthdays. It was also reported that Harry would inherit the larger share of the money left by the Queen Mother for the two brothers, as William is expected to ascend the throne and receive additional financial benefits.
Education
Like his father and brother, Harry was educated at private schools. He began at London's Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School. He then attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire. After passing entrance exams, he was admitted to Eton College. The decision to place him at Eton departed from the past practice of the Mountbatten-Windsors, who traditionally sent their children to Gordonstoun, which his grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins had attended. It did, however, see Harry follow in his brother's footsteps and the Spencer family tradition, as both his maternal grandfather and his maternal uncle attended Eton. As with William, the royal family and the tabloid press agreed that Harry would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for occasional photograph opportunities, in what became known as the "pressure cooker agreement".In June 2003, Harry completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, achieving a grade B in art and a D in geography, having decided to drop history of art after AS level. He has been described as "a top tier athlete", having played competitive polo and rugby union. One of his former teachers, Sarah Forsyth, asserted that he was a "weak student" and claimed that staff at Eton conspired to help him cheat on examinations. Both Eton and Harry denied the allegations. A tribunal made no ruling on the cheating claim, but it "accepted the prince had received help in preparing his A-level 'expressive' project, which he needed to pass to secure his place at Sandhurst." While at Eton, Harry joined the Combined Cadet Force and was made cadet officer in his final year, leading the corps' annual parade at the Eton tattoo.
After leaving school, Harry took a gap year, during which he spent time in Australia working as a jackaroo on a cattle station and taking part in the Young England vs Young Australia Polo Test match. He also travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho.
Military career
Sandhurst; Blues and Royals; deployment to Afghanistan
Harry passed the Regular Commissions Board in September 2004 and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales and joined Alamein Company. His entry into the academy had been delayed for four months while he recovered from an injury to his left knee. In April 2006, he completed his officer training and was commissioned as a Cornet in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry in the British Army. On 13 April 2008, after reaching two years' seniority, he was promoted to lieutenant.In 2006, it was announced that Harry's unit was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq the following year. A public debate followed over whether he should serve there. In April 2006, the Ministry of Defence stated that Harry would be shielded from the front line if his unit went to war, with a spokeswoman noting that he was expected to "undertake the fullest range of deployments", but that his role required monitoring because "his overt presence might attract additional attention" that could endanger him or those he commanded. Defence Secretary John Reid argued that he should be allowed to serve on the front line. Harry agreed, saying, "If they said 'no, you can't go front line' then I wouldn't drag my sorry ass through Sandhurst and I wouldn't be where I am now." Harry completed the Troop Leaders' Course in October 2006 and rejoined his regiment in Windsor, where he was put in charge of a troop of 11 soldiers and four Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles. On 22 February 2007, the Ministry of Defence and Clarence House jointly announced that Harry would be deployed with his regiment to Iraq as part of the 1st Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd Mechanised Divisiona move supported by Harry, who had said he would leave the army if ordered to remain in safety while his regiment went to war.
General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British Army said on 30 April 2007 that he had personally decided Harry would serve with his unit in Iraq as a troop commander, and he was scheduled for deployment in May or June 2007 to patrol the Maysan Governorate. By 16 May, however, Dannatt announced that Harry would not serve in Iraq; concerns included his status as a high-value targetseveral threats had already been made against himand the risks this posed to the soldiers around him should any attempt be made on his life or if he were captured. Clarence House made public Harry's disappointment with the decision, though he said he would abide by it.
In the summer of 2007 Harry trained as a joint terminal attack controller at RAF Leeming. In early June 2007, it was reported that he had arrived in Canada to train alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and the British Army at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat, Alberta, in preparation for a possible deployment to Afghanistan, where Canadian and British forces were serving in the NATO-led Afghan War. This was confirmed in February 2008 when the Ministry of Defence revealed that Harry had been secretly deployed as a joint terminal attack controller to Helmand Province in Afghanistan for the previous ten weeks. The revelation followed breaches of the media blackout by Bild and New Idea. He was immediately withdrawn due to concerns that the publicity would endanger him and fellow soldiers. Harry returned on a flight carrying servicemen injured by an IED, including Ben McBean. It was later reported that Harry had helped Gurkha troops repel an attack by Taliban insurgents, and had carried out patrol duties in hostile areas while in Afghanistan.
Harry's tour made him the first member of the British royal family to serve in a war zone since his uncle Prince Andrew, who flew helicopters during the Falklands War. For Harry's service, his aunt Princess Anne presented him with the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan at Combermere Barracks in May 2008.