| Prince Harry | |
|---|---|
| Full name | |
| Henry Charles Albert David | |
| House | House of Windsor |
| Father | Charles, Prince of Wales |
| Mother | Diana, Princess of Wales |
| Born | 15 September 1984 St Mary's Hospital, London |
| Religion | Church of England |
Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), commonly known as Prince Harry,[1] is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, and fourth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As such, he is third in the line of succession (behind his father and elder brother) to the thrones of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Consequently, he is also third in line, again behind his father and elder brother, to the position Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
After an education at various schools around the United Kingdom and spending parts of his gap year in Australia and Lesotho, Harry, unlike his elder brother, Prince William, eschewed a university education in favour of following in the footsteps of various royal men by enrolling in the military. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry Regiment—serving temporarily with his brother—and completed his training as a tank commander. He served for 77 days on the front line in the Afghan War,[2] although he was pulled out following publication of the story in an Australian magazine.[3]
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Harry was born at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, England, on 15 September 1984, weighing 6 lb 15oz. He was baptised at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, by then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. Harry's godparents were Prince Andrew (his paternal uncle); Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (his paternal cousin); Lady Vestey; Mrs. William Bartholomew; Bryan Organ; and Gerald Ward.[4]
Persistent suggestions, based on a similarity of hair colour, have been made that Harry's father is not Charles but James Hewitt, with whom Diana had an affair. However, red hair is known to be a Spencer family trait, and Hewitt stated to the press in 2002 that Harry had already been born by the time his affair with Diana began, a statement corroborated by Diana's police bodyguard.[5][6]
There really is no possibility whatsoever that I am Harry's father. I can absolutely assure you that I am not…I can understand the interest but Harry was already walking by the time my relationship with Diana began. Admittedly the red hair is similar to mine and people say we look alike. I have never encouraged these comparisons and although I was with Diana for a long time I must state once and for all that I'm not Harry's father.—James Hewitt[7]
Diana wanted William and Harry to have a broader range of experiences than previous royal children and took both to venues that ranged from Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and shelters for the homeless.[8] Diana, Princess of Wales, who was by then divorced from the Prince of Wales, died in a car collision in 1997. Harry, his brother and their father were staying at Balmoral Castle at the time, and the Prince of Wales waited until early the following morning to tell his sons about their mother's death.[9] At his mother's funeral, Harry accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather, and maternal uncle in walking behind the funeral cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey.[10]
Like his father and elder brother, Harry was educated at public schools, starting at Jane Mynors' nursery school[11] and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in London. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School, and, after passing the entrance exams, was admitted to Eton College, where he studied geography, art history, and art at A-Level. The decision to place Harry in Eton went against the family tradition of sending royal children to Gordonstoun (Harry's grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins all attended); it did, however, make the Prince follow in the Spencer family footsteps, as both Diana's father and brother had attended Eton.[8] In June 2003, he completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, obtaining a B in art, and a D in geography,[12] having decided to drop history of art after AS level.[13] He excelled in sports, particularly polo and rugby union. .
After graduation, Harry took a gap year, during which he spent time in Australia, working (as his father had done in his youth) on a cattle station and participating in the Young England vs Young Australia Polo Test Match.[14] He also travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom.[8]
Prince Harry began to accompany his parents on official visits at an early age; his first overseas royal tour was with his parents to Italy in 1985.[15] The earlier decision made by the Princess of Wales to take an infant William to Australia set the precedent for young royal children going on official visits.[8] Harry then accompanied either both parents or his father on subsequent tours, though he did not begin solo official engagements until after his military training and active service. In August 1995, at the age of 10, Prince Harry attended the 50th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day at the Cenotaph in London. There he saluted the officers in the military parade, one of the most important ceremonies in the royal family agenda. In 2008, he began to undertake royal visits to schools and organisations in Wales.[16]
Prince Harry entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined the Alamein Company.[17] Within a year, in April 2006, Harry completed his officer's training and was commissioned as a Cornet in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry in the British Army.[18] By April 2008, whereupon he reached two years' seniority, Harry was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
The British Ministry of Defence and Clarence House made a joint announcement on 22 February 2007 that Prince Harry would be deployed with his regiment to the front line in Iraq, to serve as part of the 1st Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd Mechanised Division – a move supported by Harry, who had stated that he would leave the army if he was told to remain in safety while his regiment went to war;[19] he said: "There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."[20] Then head of the British army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, first said on 30 April 2007 that he had personally decided that the Prince would serve with his unit in Iraq,[21] and Harry was scheduled for deployment in May or June 2007, to patrol the Maysan province.[22] By 16 May, however, Dannatt announced that Prince Harry would not serve in Iraq;[23] concerns included Harry being a high-value target (as several threats by various groups have already been made against him) and the dangers the soldiers around him would face should any attempt be made on the Prince's life or capture. Clarence House made public the Prince's disappointment with the decision, though he said he would abide by it.[24] In May 2007, British soldiers in Iraq were reported to be wearing t-shirts bearing the statement "I'm Harry!"; a reference to the scene in the movie Spartacus in which the survivors of Spartacus's army, defeated by Roman legions, are offered leniency by Crassus if they will identify their leader. Every survivor declares: "I'm Spartacus!"[25]
It was reported, in early June 2007, that Prince Harry had arrived in Canada to train, alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and British Army, at Canadian Forces base Suffield, near Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was said that this was in preparation for a tour of duty in Afghanistan, where Canadian and British forces were participating in the NATO led Afghan War;[26] rumours that were confirmed in February the following year, when the British Ministry of Defence revealed that Harry had secretly been deployed as a Forward Air Controller to Helmand Province in the Asian country.[27] The revelation came after the media – notably, the German newspaper Bild and Australian magazine New Idea[28][29] – breached the blackout placed over the information by the Canadian and British authorities.[30] It was later reported that, while in Afghanistan, Harry had called in United States Air Force air strikes,[31] helped Gurkha troops repel an attack from Taliban insurgents,[32] and performed patrol duty in hostile areas.[33] His tour came 735 years after his ancestor, Edward I of England (then Prince Edward), had also been on military duty in the Middle East during the Ninth crusade,[34] and also made Harry the first member of the Royal Family to have served in a war zone since his uncle, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, flew helicopters during the Falklands War. For his service, Prince Harry was decorated with the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan by his aunt, the Princess Royal, at the Combermere Barracks in May 2008.[35]
In October 2008, the news was revealed that Prince Harry was to follow his brother, father, and uncle with the wish to fly military helicopters. After passing the initial aptitude test, he was to undertake a month-long course; depending on whether or not he passed that course he would proceed onto full flight training in early 2009.[36] Harry had to pass his flying assessment at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC), Middle Wallop, the result of which determined if he would pass on to train as a pilot of either the Apache, Lynx, or Gazelle helicopter.[37]
Prince Harry was presented with his flying brevet (wings) by his father, on 7 May 2010 at a ceremony at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC), Middle Wallop. Prince Harry had also let it be known that he intended to fly Apache attack helicopters if he was successful in passing the rigorous Apache training course; after which time it could be possible for him to see active military service once again on the frontline in one of the warzones.[38] During the ceremony, he switched his Blues and Royals' Officer's Service Dress cap for that of the Army Air Corps' sky blue beret with a Blues and Royals badge.
On 10 March 2011, it was revealed that Prince Harry had passed his Apache flying test and he was awarded his Apache Flying Badge on 14 April 2011. There is speculation that he shall return to Afghanistan once again before the withdrawal in 2015. On 16 April 2011 it was announced that Prince Harry had been promoted to the Army rank of Captain after having held the rank of Lieutenant since 2008.[39]
In June 2011, Clarence House announced that Prince Harry on completion of his training conversion course to use Apache helicopters in the war arena would be available for deployment, including in current operations in Afghanistan in his role as an Apache helicopter pilot. The final decision will ultimately rest with the Ministry of Defence's senior commanders including principally the Chief of the Defence Staff in consultation with the wishes of Harry, his father the Prince of Wales and The Queen.[40] In October, Prince Harry was transferred to a US military base in California to complete his helicopter gunship training. This final phase will include live-fire training as well as "environmental and judgment training" at naval and air force facilities in California and Arizona. The majority of those completing the two-month Apache training are deployed to the front lines in Afghanistan.[41] In the same month it was reported that Prince Harry was said to be a natural pilot who was reportedly top of his class in the extensive training he had undertaken at the Naval Air Facility, El Centro, California.[42] On November 2011, Prince Harry returned to England from military training in the United States. Next, he will head to Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk, southeast England, to complete his training to fly Apache helicopters.[43]
At the age of 21, Prince Harry was appointed as a Counsellor of State, and began his royal duties by first serving in that capacity when the Queen was abroad to attend the 2005 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. The following year, Harry was in Lesotho to visit again Mants'ase Children's Home near Mohale's Hoek (which he first toured in 2004), and along with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho launched Sentebale: The Princes' Fund for Lesotho, a charity to aid children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. He has also granted his patronage to a number of other organisations, including WellChild, Dolen Cymru, and MapAction.[44] To aid Sentebale, as well as the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Centrepoint, Harry and his brother organised the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium, on 1 July 2007.
Sports have also been a way that Harry has helped charities and other organisations, such as when he trained as a Rugby Development Officer for the Rugby Football Union in 2004 and then coached students in schools in order to encourage them to learn the sport. He has also participated in polo matches, like his brother and father, in order to raise money for charitable causes.[14]
On 6 January 2009, Harry and his brother Prince William were granted their own royal household by their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. It has three main staff members, supported by a "small" team. Sir David Manning, the former British ambassador to Washington, will work as a part-time adviser to the princes. Previously, William and Harry's affairs had been handled by the office of their father at Clarence House in central London. The brothers' new household released a statement – complete with their own cyphers at the top – announcing that they have established their own office at nearby St. James's Palace to look after their public, military and charitable activities.[45] Harry's cypher is similar to his brother's, but displays an H in a shade of blue similar to that used by his mother.
Prince Harry has spent much of his free time in sporting activities, playing competitive polo, as well as skiing and motocross.[14] Harry also earned a reputation in his youth for being rebellious, leading the tabloid press to label him as a "wild child".[46] He was found at age 17 smoking cannabis and partaking in under-age drinking with his friends, would clash physically with paparazzi outside nightclubs,[46] and was photographed at Highgrove House at a "Colonial and Native" themed costume party wearing a Nazi German Afrika Korps uniform with a swastika armband.[47] He later issued a public statement apologizing for his behaviour.[48]
Prince Harry is a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.[49]
In January 2009, the British tabloid News of the World revealed a video made by Harry three years previously, in which he referred to a Pakistani fellow officer cadet as "our little Paki friend" and later called a soldier wearing a cloth on his head a "raghead". These terms were described by David Cameron as "unacceptable",[50] and by The Daily Telegraph as "racist",[50] and a British Muslim youth organisation called the Prince a "thug",[51] a statement that was later retracted.[52] Clarence House immediately issued an apology from Harry, who stated that no malice was intended in his remarks.[53] A former British MP and Royal Marine, Rod Richards, said that such nicknames were common amongst military comrades, stating "in the Armed Forces people often used to call me Taffy. Others were called Yankie, Oz or Kiwi or whatever. I consider Paki as an abbreviation for Pakistani. I don't think on this occasion it was intended to be offensive."[54] It later emerged that Prince Harry had personally apologised to the soldier.[55]
While Harry's personal relationships have not been followed as much as those of his brother, most media attention has been focused on his relationship with Chelsy Davy. In an interview conducted for his 21st birthday, Harry referred to Davy as his girlfriend, and the press reported at that time that the couple had been together for 18 months, contradicting earlier reports that they were no longer together.[56] Harry and Davy were also seen together publicly at the Concert for Diana. Chelsy also accompanied Harry to the wedding of Harry's cousin, Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly in May 2008, where she was introduced to the Queen for the first time. But, in early 2009 it was reported in the media that the pair had parted ways.[57] Later that year the pair were photographed together at a rugby match, seemingly going public again with their relationship.[58] As of 2010, Harry and Davy are no longer together following Davy's departure from England. In 2011, Harry confirmed the rumors by proclaiming himself "100 per cent single". [59]
| Royal styles of Prince Henry of Wales |
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|---|---|
| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Sir |
The Prince's style and title in full is His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales. As a British prince, Harry holds no surname; however, as with the other male-line grandchildren of Elizabeth II, he uses the name of the area over which his father holds title; i.e., Wales. Past precedent is that such surnames are dropped from usage in adulthood, after which either title alone, or Mountbatten-Windsor is used when necessary.[60] Prince Harry, however, continues to use Wales as his surname for military purposes and is known as Captain Harry Wales in such contexts.[61] If his father succeeds to the throne he will be known as His Royal Highness The Prince Henry. Traditionally, male-line members of British royalty receive a dukedom a few hours before their marriage, the most recent being Prince William of Wales, who became Duke of Cambridge.
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Through his maternal grandfather, Prince Harry is descended from King Henry IV, King Charles II and King James II and VII. Through his mother, both from The Earl Spencer and The Baron Fermoy Families, Harry is of English, Scottish, American descent and of remote Irish descent.
Prince Harry is descended from the kings and queens of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom with surviving offspring from William I.[66] He is also descended from many of the pre-Union monarchs of Scotland and the pre-Conquest monarchs of England.
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Prince Harry of Wales
Cadet branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Born: 15 September 1984 |
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| British royalty | ||
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| Preceded by The Duke of Cambridge |
Line of succession to the British Throne 3rd position |
Succeeded by The Duke of York |
| Line of succession to the Dukedom of Edinburgh 3rd position |
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| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Cambridge |
Gentlemen HRH Prince Henry of Wales |
Succeeded by Viscount Severn |
| Preceded by The Earl of Wessex |
Gentlemen in current practice |
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