Prince Henry of Wales
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Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor) (born September 15, 1984), colloquially known as Prince Harry, is the third in the line of succession to the British throne and the thrones of other Commonwealth Realms, behind his father, the Prince of Wales, and his elder brother, Prince William of Wales. He is a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Harry is a Cornet in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry of the British Army. In his youth, he was generally regarded as a carefree, fun-loving, and rebellious member of the British Royal Family.
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Birth and childhood
Harry was born on September 15, 1984 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in central London. His father is Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His mother is the late Diana, Princess of Wales, the former wife of the Prince of Wales, who died in 1997. He has an elder brother, Prince William.
He was christened on December 21 1984 at St. George's Chapel Windsor Castle by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie. His godparents were: his uncle the Duke of York, Lady Sarah Chatto, Lady Vestey, Mrs William Bartholomew; the portrait painter, Mr. Bryan Organ; and Mr. Gerald Ward.
The prince's official family name is that of Windsor, according to his grandmother's royal proclamation of 1960, but some of the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II appear to utilize the surname Mountbatten-Windsor as personal preference.
Charles is said to have wanted a daughter, and to have been deeply disappointed when the baby was a boyTemplate:Fact; worse, according to Diana's version of events, Harry, Charles ruefully noted, had "ruddy hair", a Spencer family trait. Biographers agree that their marriage was already troubled before then, and became irreparably broken shortly afterwards. Some people note that Harry shares red hair colour with Diana's lover James Hewitt, and see this superficial characteristic enough to doubt Charles' paternity. Hewitt's affair with Diana did not begin, however, until well after Harry was born. Hewitt himself recalled that when he first met Diana Prince Harry was with her. On 29 June 2005, the Sun newspaper published extracts from a close friend of Diana, that proved that the Prince of Wales was Harry's father. Harry resembles both his paternal grandfather in his youth and increasingly the Prince of Wales.
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Image:Harry and William.jpg On August 31, 1997, Harry's mother died following in a car accident in Paris, with her partner Dodi Al-Fayed and their driver Henri Paul (although a bodyguard, the only one in the car wearing a seat belt, survived. Her death came days after she spent a holiday in southern France with William and Harry. The princes were staying at Balmoral Castle; it was Charles who awoke them and broke the news.
At Diana's celebrity-studded funeral—which was broadcast live throughout the world—the princes, their father, grandfather Prince Philip, and uncle (the Earl Spencer) walked behind Diana's funeral cortege from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. On Diana's coffin was a card from Harry, made out to Mummy. Cameras were barred from showing the princes during the service itself; Harry reportedly broke down and sobbed several times, according to contemporary media reports. Both princes were praised for their strength shown on that day.
Contrary to his eulogy, in which he promised that Diana's "blood family" would take over her less-traditional upbringing of them, the boys have seen little of the Earl Spencer and the other members of Diana's family.
Education
Template:Infobox hrhstyles Harry attended the Mrs. Jane Mynors's nursery school in West London, the same as William. He later followed his brother to the pre-prep Wetherby School, and later to Ludgrove School in Berkshire. He later attended the prestigious Eton College in Eton, Berkshire. In June 2003, he finished Eton with two A-levels in Geography and Art, of grades D and B respectively.
At school, he developed his love of sport, particularly polo and rugby union. He has also participated in the Eton Wall Game.
After finishing Eton, Harry undertook a gap year, visiting Australia and Africa. In Australia he worked on a cattle station, and watched the 2003 Rugby World Cup being held in the country. In Africa, he worked in an orphanage in Lesotho. Later in the year he travelled to Argentina on vacation, but returned amid rumours of drunkenness and a kidnapping attempt. [1]
On May 8 2005, the Prince entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. There he was known as Officer Cadet Wales instead of using his royal title, and was part of Alamein Company. [2]
Army
Prince Harry passed out as a newly commissioned officer during the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[3] He will continue to use Wales as a last name and is now known in the Army as Cornet Wales.[4]
In January 2006, Clarence House announced that Prince Harry will join the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry, and train as a reconnaissance troop commander. [5] Since then, it was reported that he was expected to deploy to Iraq in May 2007 as part of the 1st Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division. The Blues and Royals would form part of the force patrolling the governorate of Maysan on the Iran-Iraq border.
Romances
Prince Harry's friends had said that he has been involved with many girlsTemplate:Fact, especially girls in his social circle (including Laura Leigh, the daughter of a British billionaire) and sometimes the young women he met in nightclubs.
The prince's most well-known romance until now has been with Chelsy Davy (born 1985), a Zimbabwe-born heiress to an African ranching and real estate fortune. According to published reports quoting the young woman's uncle Paul Davy, she and the prince discussed marriage in December 2004. This desire, however, resulted in no public announcements of any engagement, formal or informal, and the couple reportedly broke off their relationship in February 2005. However, in an interview conducted for his twenty-first birthday in September 2005, Prince Harry referred to Chelsy as his girlfriend and the press reported that their relationship was at that time eighteen months old, strongly contradicting reports they were no longer a couple. During the relationship, however, there were rumors that Prince Harry was, or still is, seeing other girls as well.Template:Fact
Controversies
Drinking and alleged drug-taking
Some of Harry's reported actions have provoked widespread media attention. In January 2002, it was revealed that the prince had admitted smoking marijuana and had allegedly engaged in under-age drinking, raising the possibility that criminal charges would be filed against him in the summer of 2001. A subsequent police investigation cleared Harry of wrongdoing and Harry's father Charles was praised for his handling of the situation, which included taking Harry to visit a drug rehabilitation facility in London. However, the basement of Charles's Highgrove home is rumoured to be a private nightclub nicknamed "Club H", where Harry and his friends can entertain themselves free of observation by the press.[6]
Altercation with paparazzo
On the morning of October 21, 2004, HRH Prince Harry had an altercation with paparazzo photographer Chris Uncle as he left Pangaea, a Piccadilly Circus nightclub. The photographer was left with a cut lip whilst the Prince left unharmed. After the story appeared in the tabloids, he issued a statement in which he stated that his behaviour had been "disappointing" and in which he publicly apologised to Charles.
Nazi costume
Image:Sun harry the nazi.jpg On January 8, 2005, Harry attended a fancy-dress party (costume party) on the theme of "Colonials and Natives" at the country estate of Olympic show jumper Richard Meade in Wiltshire. Choosing not to use any British reference, Harry came to the party wearing a military tunic with a German flag on the arm; when he took it off, the pale khaki shirt underneath showed a Wehrmacht national emblem on the collar and a swastika armband. A reporter from The Sun who had been tipped off previously took a photo of Harry that also showed him holding a cigarette and a drink. The incongruity of his costume was punctuated by the fact that the swastika on the armband was of the type used by the Finnish military. After the photo was published in the January 13, 2005 issue of The Sun, an intense controversy resulted, including demands that the prince be barred from entering the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (as well as contrary demands that he join the Army as soon as possible). The uproar was caused not by a simple distasteful choice of costume, but because of Harry's apparent ignorance of historical sensitivities and the alleged message of disrespect for British World War II veterans and their families, which included his own grandparents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. The controversy was exacerbated because the party took place exactly two weeks before the Holocaust Memorial Day, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland by the Red Army.
Prince Harry responded with a written apology in which he said that he was "very sorry if I have caused offence" for his "poor choice." Prince Charles, who was reportedly "incandescent with rage" over the incident, ordered Harry and his brother William—who was present when Harry chose his outfit—to visit Auschwitz privately, with members of a Jewish charity, to learn about the Holocaust, its causes, and consequences. However, The Times called the apology "feeble" and denounced his involvement with a "dubious group of self-indulgent young men who are apparently content with a life of pointless privilege." The Guardian was even sharper in its condemnation, observing that "Prince Harry seems less interested in preparing for a life of royal service than auditioning for the role of village idiot," although other newspapers and other media were more deferential.
Lap dance club
Some parts of the British media [7] have objected to Prince Harry attending a lap dancing club - the Spearmint Rhino club, near Slough, Berkshire. This trip was a celebration ahead of passing out of Sandhurst in April 2006. A dancer in the club called Mariella from Lithuania told The Mirror, a leading British tabloid newspaper: “I asked him if he wanted a dance but he said he didn’t because he has a girlfriend who he was really in love with.” He allegedly said: “She’s really beautiful. I wouldn’t want a dance because it would be like cheating.”
Style and arms
Image:COA Prince Harry Wales.gif
Prince Harry has the title of Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with the style His Royal Highness.
On his 18th birthday, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II granted Prince Harry his own personalised coat of arms, the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom with a label for difference: Quarterly, 1st and 4th Gules three Lions passant guardant in pale Or (England), 2nd Or a Lion rampant within a Double Tressure flory counterflory Gules (Scotland), 3rd Azure a Harp Or stringed Argent (Ireland), the whole differenced by a Label of five points Argent the first third and fifth points charged with an Escallop Gules.
Prince Harry's coat of arms has a label of five points, as the grandchild of the sovereign. The escallops (seashells) allude to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whose Spencer coat of arms includes three escallops argent.
Titles from birth
- His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales (15 September 1984—)
Service Records
Military service
- Cornet or 2nd Lieutenant - Blues and Royals Regiment - Household Cavalry, British Army 2006-present
See also
- British prince
- British Royal Family
- Line of succession to the British Throne
- Genealogy of the British Royal Family
Footnotes
- Template:Note His parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, announced when revealing his name that though officially Prince Henry of Wales he would be called in practice Prince Harry.
External links
- Royal.gov.uk- Prince Harry
- About the Prince - From Prince of Wales official Site
- Prince Harry news page
- Will and Harry Unlimited - Fan Site
- PrinceHarry.co.uk - Prince Harry Fan Site & Forum
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