Nazi uniforms, a fractured relationship with Wills and leaving the Royal family – Prince Harry turns 40
King Charles’ youngest son is turning 40 this weekend.
Born Henry Charles Albert David, he’s known by most as Prince Harry. The Duke of Sussex’s life has been a rollercoaster from the beginning, having been thrust into the spotlight as a baby and losing his mum at a young age.
The Duke of Sussex is preparing to celebrate his 40th birthday on Sunday by jetting off on a ‘lads holiday’ with a handful of close friends, following a more subdued evening with his family in California.
Speaking to the BBC ahead of his birthday, Harry looked back on a turbulent ten years and revealed how his two young children gave him a ‘fresh perspective on life’.
Born into royalty
Henry Charles Albert David was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, on 15 September, 1984.
He is the second child of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Growing up, his family referred to him as Harry – a nickname that stuck.
He caught the nation’s attention as he posed with his tongue out as a child, earning him the nickname of the ‘cheeky’ prince.
Although he went onto be known for roguish behaviour, Harry was initially descried as a quiet child who was ‘happy in his own world’, opposed to his brother William who was reportedly nicknamed ‘Basher’.
After attending Mrs. Mynors’s Nursery School, Harry headed to Wetherby School in London before going to Ludgrove School in Berkshire.
He later went on to attend Eton, where his brother also went.
It’s believed he wasn’t considered particularly academically strong but still gained 11 GCSEs and two A-Levels.
He was ‘a top tier athlete’, playing competitive polo and rugby, and was made a cadet officer in the Combined Cadet Force.
Losing his mother
One year after his parents divorce in 1996, Harry’s mum Diana died in a car crash in Paris.
Harry later spoke of his pain while walking behind her coffin in the funeral procession.
‘It was like I was outside of my body and just walking along doing what was expected of me’, he said on mental health series The Me You Can’t See.
‘[I was] showing one tenth of the emotion that everybody else was showing: This was my mum – you never even met her.’
Costume controversy
The outfit became a huge scandal when Harry, then 20, was photographed wearing the Nazi regalia.
The story made the front pages of almost every national newspaper after an image of then-20-year-old Harry in the uniform featured on The Sun.
The Duke of Sussex wore the Nazi uniform at a party thrown by Olympic show jumper Richard Meade.
The theme of the event – held to mark the birthday of Mr Meade’s son Harry – was ‘native and colonial’.
Harry wore the desert uniform of General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
Earlier in the evening he had worn an army-style jacket with a German flag on the arm.
Military service and the Invictus Games
Prince Harry served in the Army for ten years, rising to the rank of Captain and undertaking two tours of Afghanistan.
After he left the army, he formed the Invictus Games, which celebrate the sporting achievements of injured and sick military veterans.
Married with children
Two years after founding the games, he met his now wife, Meghan Markle, when a friend matched the two together.
Since the couple got married in 2018, they have quit the Royal Family, welcomed two children, been the subject of a record breaking Netflix documentary series, and seen Harry’s controversial autobiography Spare hit the bookshelves.
Since taking the decision to step back from royal duties they have relocated to California, where they live with four-year-old son Archie and daughter Lilibet, who was born in June 2021.
Harry and Meghan have two children, a son, Archie, 3, and a one-year-old daughter, Lilibet Diana.
The couple’s daughter is named after the nickname reportedly given to the late Queen Elizabeth II by those close to her and after Harry’s late mother.
Archie and Lilibet technically became a Prince and Princess after the death of the Queen as the grandchildren of the Monarch are entitled to be referred to as so.
To make things even more confusing, the real name of Meghan Markle is actually Rachel.
An explosive biography and family rift
In January 2023, Prince Harry released his explosive biography, ‘Spare’.
He and his brother, William, had already been growing apart due to alleged issues with Meghan Markle and William’s wife Kate, but Harry’s book made the rift even bigger.
The term Spare, in the context of Prince Harry, is derived from the famous adage ‘the heir and the spare.’
Things seemingly came to a head between them during a confrontation, detailed in Harry’s autobiography ‘Spare’, where the Duke of Sussex accused the Prince of Wales of physically attacking him.
The pair allegedly haven’t spoken since.
What are Prince Harry’s titles?
Harry was born, His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales, as his mother and father (Charles III and the late Princess Diana) were the Prince and Princess of Wales at the time.
Harry doesn’t technically have a surname as traditionally, anyone in the Royal Family who has a Prince/Princess, or a His/Her Royal Highness title, doesn’t officially have one.
However, when Harry married Meghan in 2018, the pair were gifted the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
As well as this Harry also holds the titles of Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.
When Harry and Meghan agreed to step down from senior royal duties in 2020, the couple agreed that they would no longer use the style His/Her Royal Highness before their names.
Harry was also stripped of his honorary military titles but has been allowed to keep the rest of his titles.
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