Harry: the prince who forged his own path
The Duke of Sussex grew up being the center of attention of the press: from a young royal dealing with the death of his mother, through his partying adolescence, to his career in the army.
Since then, Harry has followed in his mother's footsteps, doing charity work around the world. He married and became a father.
Now he and the Duchess of Sussex will begin a new chapter after renouncing their royal duties, Her Royal Highness titles and public funds, and are expected to spend most of their time in Canada.
Harry has tried to balance his public and private life.
Sometimes the publicity that comes with being sixth in line to the British throne has helped him in his charitable endeavors. But there have also been times when that attention has become too much for him, who has fought fiercely for his family's privacy.
His youth
Born in London on September 15, 1984, the prince was christened Henry Charles Albert David in December of that year at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
From the beginning of his life it was officially announced that he would be known as Harry.
The prince's childhood was cut short when his mother passed away in 1997.
Princess Diana died in an accident in Paris, at the age of 36, when the car in which she was traveling was followed by paparazzi.
Her death shocked her followers around the world, but it was the lives of Harry, 12, and William, 15, that changed forever.
The funeral, which saw children walking behind their mother's hearse to attend the service at Westminster Abbey, remains one of the most-watched programs on the BBC.
"I can safely say that losing my mother at 12, and thus blocking all my emotions for the past 20 years, has had a pretty serious effect, not only on my personal life but also on my work." the prince said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2017.
The prince followed the educational path of his older brother William, at Wetherby School, in Notting Hill, first, before entering Eton in 1998.
After leaving Eton in 2003, Harry took a year off.
He worked on a sheep farm in Australia and with AIDS orphans in Lesotho, paving the way for the charity he later established there.
A life in the media spotlight
Press attention has been a constant in Harry's life.
On the front page of a 2002 issue, the now-defunct News of the World headlined: "Harry's Drug Shame," claiming that Prince Charles had sent his son to visit a rehab clinic as punishment for smoking cannabis. .
The palace of St. James - the former residence of the Prince of Wales and his children - confirmed that the then 17-year-old had "experimented with drugs on several occasions", but said that the use was not "regular".
Then, in October 2004, he was involved in a fight with a photographer outside of a club.
A spokesman for the royal family said the prince, who was in his 20s at the time, had been hit in the face by a cameraman "when photographers were crowding around him."
The following year, an image of the prince dressed as a Nazi at a costume party sparked outrage.
Later, Clarence House - the current residence of the Prince of Wales - said that the prince apologized for any "offense" caused and realized that it had been "a poor choice of wardrobe".
And in 2009, video footage surfaced of Harry using offensive language to describe an Asian member of his platoon in the military.
The Palace of St. James said the prince "was very sorry for any offense his words might cause," but said he had "used the term without malice and as a nickname for a very popular member of his platoon."
Harry enjoyed more positive media coverage during the London 2012 Olympic Games, in his role as Olympic Ambassador.
In the same year he spent a lot of time in front of the cameras for the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. As part of those celebrations, Harry completed his first real solo tour abroad, with visits to Belize, Bahamas, Brazil and Jamaica.
However, that August, photos of the prince and a naked young woman appeared in a hotel room in Las Vegas.
The two photos, published on TMZ's website in the US and later in The Sun newspaper, were taken on a private break with friends.
"It was in a private area and one could expect a certain privacy that one should expect," Harry said about it.
However, the prince has been able to save all these controversies.
As the younger brother of the expected future king, Harry has relatively little responsibility.
Like the queen's sister, Princess Margaret, and Prince Charles's younger brothers, Harry is a "spare for the heir" and represents a world far from the throne.
So his indiscretions have done little to dent public opinion about him.
And maybe he had a freer existence because of that. Concerns about his safety would have made active duty in Afghanistan impossible for his older brother, for example.
Army and charity
Harry spent 10 years in the military, becoming the first royal in more than 25 years to serve in a war zone.
The decision in 2007 by army chiefs not to send him to Iraq due to "unacceptable risks" disappointed him, but he then spent 10 weeks serving in Afghanistan in 2008.
Harry returned to the country as an Apache helicopter pilot and later, in July 2013, achieved the rank of Commander.
Harry announced that he was leaving the military in 2015. Time in the military "will stay with me for the rest of my life," the prince said then.
This is reflected in his charitable work, which focuses primarily on mental health and helping veterans.
Harry's most notable charity work thus far is founding and presiding over the Invictus Games in 2014.
The international Paralympic-style competition for wounded veterans has been held in London, Orlando, Toronto and Sydney.
He also supports the Walking With the Wounded charity for wounded veterans.
Other charities for the prince include supporting conservation projects in Africa and the foundation of Sentebale, an orphan aid organization in Lesotho.
He also continued his mother's work helping children affected by HIV and AIDS and supporting the Halo Trust charity in removing landmines.
Diana captured global attention when she traversed a minefield in central Angola in 1997.
She died in Paris later that year, before seeing the full impact of her visit, such as the signing of an international treaty to ban weapons. But Harry highlighted his accomplishments when he retraced his steps in September 2019.
Fight stigma
In recent years, Harry has received therapy to overcome the death of his mother.
He was best man at his brother William's wedding in April 2011 and has since talked about how difficult it was not to have Diana there.
In a candid interview with the Daily Telegraph, he described how he blocked all his emotions for almost 20 years and refused to think about his mother.
This, he said, had a "pretty serious effect" on his personal life and work, bringing him close to collapse "on numerous occasions."
He also said that he would probably regret "for the rest of his life" how brief his last phone call with his mother was and he talked about the "fun" parenting that Diana had.
She was a "girl through and through," she said.
Harry, his brother William and the Duchess of Cambridge joined forces in a campaign for mental health.
They founded Heads Together, which aims to address stigma and raise funds for new support services.
"Wonderful surprise"
As one of the highest-profile singles in the world, Harry's love life has attracted a lot of interest over the years.
In late 2016, he confirmed his relationship with American actress Meghan Markle, while issuing a statement accusing journalists of harassing her.
The couple met on a date arranged by a mutual friendship they had. Then, after just two dates, they went on vacation together to Botswana.
In September 2017, a year before their wedding, Meghan told Vanity Fair magazine that she and Harry were "two really happy and in love people."
And in an interview in November of that year, when their engagement was announced, Harry admitted that he had never heard of Meghan before she was introduced and was "wonderfully surprised."
The prince designed the engagement ring for Meghan, which includes two diamonds from her mother's jewelry collection.
The couple tied the knot in May 2018 in a ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor and subsequently received the title of Dukes of Sussex.
On a 16-day tour of Australia in October of that year, the dukes announced that they were expecting their first child.
Little Archie was born on May 6, 2019.
The next chapter
Last year was a rollercoaster of ups and downs for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
In March, the Dukes of Sussex and the Dukes of Cambridge separated their offices.
In April, the launch of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Instagram account amassed more than a million followers in record time (5 hours and 45 minutes).
In June, they announced that they would part ways with the charity they shared with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, fueling speculation of a rift between brothers Harry and William.
A 10-day tour of Africa in late September 2019 got off to a good start and the couple introduced Archie to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an anti-apartheid activist.
But during the tour, the Duchess of Sussex took legal action against the Mail on Sunday for illegally publishing one of her private letters.
In a lengthy statement, Harry said the "positive" coverage of the Africa tour had exposed the "double standards" of the "press that has vilified the Duchess almost daily for the past nine months."
And in an ITV documentary, filmed during the tour and broadcast the following month, the Duchess admitted that he was struggling to adjust to royal life, while the Duke said his mental health was a matter of "constant management."
Harry's charity work will certainly continue.
Buckingham Palace said he and Meghan will maintain their "private sponsorships and partnerships."
But much of her future, including where exactly she will live with her wife and son, is unclear at the moment.
