Prince Harry
Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), commonly known as Prince Harry,[2] is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales and the late 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,[3] although he was pulled out following publication of the story in an Australian magazine.
Prince William and Prince Harry leave Clarence House
Prince Harry's Tribute to Diana
Early life
The Royal Family of the
United Kingdom and the
other Commonwealth realms
Badge of the House of Windsor.svg
HM The Queen
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
HRH The Prince of Wales
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
HRH The Duke of Cambridge
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
HRH Prince Harry of Wales
HRH The Duke of York
HRH Princess Beatrice of York
HRH Princess Eugenie of York
HRH The Earl of Wessex
HRH The Countess of Wessex
Viscount Severn
Lady Louise Windsor
HRH The Princess Royal
HRH The Duke of Gloucester
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
HRH The Duke of Kent
HRH The Duchess of Kent
HRH Prince Michael of Kent
HRH Princess Michael of Kent
HRH Princess Alexandra
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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, in 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.[5]
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.[6][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 accident 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]
Education
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, however, developing his love for sports, particularly polo and rugby union.[citation needed].
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] and holidayed in Argentina.[citation needed]
Royal duties and career
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]
Military career
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.
Officer Cadet Wales (standing to attention next to the horse) on parade at Sandhurst, 21 June 2005
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; at the time, Andrew was second in line to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. 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]
Royal duties
Royal Monogram
Prince Harry (on left) with Prince William in 2009
At the age of 23, 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.[41] 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.[42] 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.
Personal life and relationships
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".[43] He was found at age 17 smoking cannabis and partaking in under-age drinking with his friends, would clash physically with paparazzi outside nightclubs,[43] 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.[44] He later issued a public statement apologizing for his behaviour.[45]
Prince Harry is a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.[46]
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",[47] and by The Daily Telegraph as "racist",[47] and a British Muslim youth organisation called the Prince a "thug",[48] a statement that was later retracted.[49] Clarence House immediately issued an apology from Harry, who stated that no malice was intended in his remarks.[50] 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."[51] It later emerged that Prince Harry had personally apologised to the soldier.[52]
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.[53] 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.[54] Later that year the pair was photographed together at a rugby match, seemingly going public again with their relationship.[55]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% single." [56]
Titles, styles, honours, arms
Titles and styles
Royal styles of
HRH Prince Henry of Wales
Arms of Henry of Wales.svg
Reference style His Royal Highness
Spoken style Your Royal Highness
Alternative style Sir
15 September 1984 – : His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales
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.[57][1] Prince Harry, however, continues to use Wales as his surname for military purposes and is known as Captain Harry Wales in such contexts.[58] 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.
Military ranks
13 April 2006 – 13 April 2008: Cornet (Second Lieutenant), The Blues and Royals[18]
13 April 2008 – 16 April 2011: Lieutenant, The Blues and Royals[59]
16 April 2011 – present: Captain, The Blues and Royals attached to Army Air Corps[39]
Honours
Medals
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon.png 6 February 2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
OSM for Afghanistan BAR.svg 5 May 2008: Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan[35]
Honorary military appointments
Canada Canada
Canada 10 November 2009 – : Canadian Ranger[60]
United Kingdom United Kingdom
United Kingdom 3 October 2008 – : Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington[61]
United Kingdom 8 August 2006 – : Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving[62]
Arms
Arms of Prince Harry of Wales
Notes
On his 18th birthday, Prince Harry was granted his own personal coat of arms, consisting of the arms of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom with a label for difference.
Coat of Arms of Henry of Wales.svg
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant in pale or armed and langed azure 2nd or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure within a double tressure flory counterflory of the second 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent
Other elements
The whole differenced by a Label of five points Argent the first, third and fifth points charged with an Escallop Gules
Symbolism
As the grandchild of the sovereign, Prince Harry's coat of arms has a label of five points. The escallops (seashells) allude to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whose Spencer coat of arms includes three escallops argent.
Ancestry
[show]Ancestors of Prince Harry of Wales
Through his paternal grandfather, Prince Harry is descended from King Henry IV, King Charles II and King James II and VII. Through his mother, Harry is of English descent and of remote Irish and Scottish descent.
Prince Harry is descended from the kings and queens of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom with surviving offspring from William I.[63] He is also descended from many of the pre-Union monarchs of Scotland and the pre-Conquest monarchs of England.
Source from Wikipedia.com
