The 35 years of Prince Harry: pains, scandals and romances of the most rebellious and popular character of European royalty
On his birthday, a review of the life of a very particular figure of the British Crown. From mourning the death of his mother to unexpected love with Meghan Markle and fatherhood
Harry was twelve when his father sat him on the bed in his room at Balmoral Castle to tell him that his mother had died. "I refused to accept it," said the prince twenty years later. And he added: "I did not even feel a sudden sadness. I think at that age I did not understand anything of what was happening." He tells it in the documentary Diana, 7 days, which recounts the hours after the accident that took Lady Di's life, in Paris, in 1997. "I have contained all my emotions for the last twenty years.
That had serious consequences in my life. personal and in my work. I refused to think about her, "he also assured in an exclusive for The Telegraph newspaper. And a lot of that explains who Harry from England is today. That red-haired and rebellious prince, who today, married and father, turns 35 years old.
Henry Charles Albert David - Prince of Wales, then, now Duke of Sussex - was born at 4:20 pm on September 15, 1984 at St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London. Younger brother of Prince William, he grew up seeing the heartbreak between his parents, who would end up separating when he was six years old. He was the fourth grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and today he is the sixth in line to the throne, after his father, his brother and his three nephews.
He grew up in Kensington Palace and started kindergarten at the age of three, while his mother worried that he would lead as normal a life as possible. Mc Donalds and Disney were some of the plans that the princess put together, so that the monarchy was not a crystal castle for her children.
"She put candy in our stockings while we played football. She was a naughty mother. And she even told me: 'You can be naughty, but don't be discovered,'" the prince recalls in the documentary Diana, our mother: her life and legacy .
There he also shared a nice anecdote in which Lady Di makes him blush in front of the models Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell.
"He invited them to the palace. I had posters of them on the wall of my room. I turned red when I saw them and did not know what to say. I think I stammered something and tripped when I went up the stairs," he said to remember with a smile to his mother, that icon of our era, who died too young and when her son was beginning to grow.
The Princess of Wales left this world on August 31, 1997. Harry not only had to bury her, but also, without shedding a single tear, endured the whole world watching him walk behind the coffin to Westminster Abbey.
"There is not a day that William and I do not wish that she was near her. Many times we wonder what kind of mother she would be now," he said in the documentary and spoke of her last communication with her. "How different it would have been if I had known ... I don't remember what we talked about, but how I regretted after it was such a short talk," Harry added about Lady Di's call the afternoon before her death, as he and his brother were vacationing at Balmoral and rushing to play with their cousins again. As any boy would. He did not know that this was not just any day. Not for them, not for the world.
Life without Diana: a raid of rebellion
A year after his mother's death, Harry started high school at the prestigious Eton College - where in addition to getting good grades, he played rugby, cricket and polo. He graduated in 2003 and took a sabbatical year to live international experiences in Australia, Lesotho (Africa) and Argentina. Harry needed to be further away from the press: that boy who, since he was a child, stuck out his tongue at the paparazzi and was somewhat more restless than his brother, was now beginning to generate serious scandals. He had typical adolescent attitudes, even if he wasn't.
In fact, at age 16 his dad found him smoking marijuana and sent him to Featherstone Lodge rehab center. "It is a serious matter that was resolved within the family," the Royal House communicated at the time. But also, just before traveling to Argentina, he got into a shouting match with a photographer from the Evening Standard newspaper when he left a club in London.
Harry landed in Ezeiza on November 12, 2004, two months after his twentieth birthday. The Tomlinson family hosted him at El Remanso, a country club in Lobos, Buenos Aires province. The prince would perfect his polo shirt, in the company of his friend Luke, the owner of the house.
The chronicles of the time say that Harry not only went to dance at La Porteña, the town's bowling alley, but also ate at a free fork, bought country items at a saddlery and even drank mate. Much was said about the Argentine girls he met. Little was confirmed then, but the prince left South America two weeks later, and ahead of schedule, for security reasons, according to him. Around those days, Harry was beginning to date Chelsy Davy, a girl from Zimbabwe, a British national, who would be his girlfriend for seven years, between twists and turns.
As the prince grew, the scandals that had him as the protagonist increased. Beyond the countless times he was photographed drunk, on Halloween 2005 he was the protagonist of one of the most disgusting events: he decided to attend a private party and at the house of a friend disguised as a Nazi, with a uniform and a swastika bracelet.
"I'm very sorry. It was a terrible choice," he declared when the photos emerged and his grandmother hit her with the challenge of his life. After that, it was much less serious when he was photographed naked, in a hotel room in Las Vegas, during a party in 2012. At that point, he was dating Cressida Bonas, a British model and actress who belonged to the nobility and would be his girlfriend until 2014.
In parallel, after his sabbatical year, Harry entered the Sandhurst military academy, to first obtain the rank of lieutenant and later, captain. Between 2007 and 2013 he was in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He had a totally normal life. He was one more," he told about that experience as a helicopter pilot, on the Forces TV program. But he also added: "I have a lot of problems and none have to do with Afghanistan. What's more, being there helped me face them. Fifteen years had passed since my mother's death and I still did not assume that she was not with me."
In addition, a couple of years ago he assured The Telegraph newspaper: "Many times I was close to collapse. I practiced boxing because they told me it was a good way to remove the aggression. That also saved me."
And he said that at 28 he sought psychiatric help after his brother told him: "You need to deal with this. You cannot continue to act as if nothing affected you." Then, not only did the scandals end for Harry, but he also began to heal inside.
Meghan, an American as an ally
The prince officially left his military job in 2015 and focused on his multiple charitable causes. Among several, he focused on his favorite three. He became the founder of the Invictus Games and leads the events of this adapted sports competition in which war veterans participate. In addition, he puts the body of Sentebale - which in the African Sesotho language means "Don't forget me" - the cause he created in honor of his mother to help orphaned children in Lesotho, South Africa. And finally, he works a lot with Heads Together, the organization seeks to destigmatize and help those who suffer from psychiatric problems.
But also, when Harry was well enough to fall in love again, Meghan Markle came into his life. Actress, Californian and three years older, the protagonist of the series Suits met the prince in May 2016, during the Invictus Games in Florida. Then the designer Misha Nonoo, a friend of hers, who was dating Alexander Gilkes, a friend of his, saw the perfect match.
In November of that same year, the rumors began. The first image of the two together is from February of the following year, arriving at the exclusive Soho Club in London and when it was not yet a plan to show hand in hand. The official presentation came, yes, at the Invictus Games in Toronto, seven months later. And the announcement of the engagement, in November. "It was an ordinary night, at home," said Harry about the proposal that he made him kneeling, while they cooked chicken, according to Meghan in a joint interview for the BBC.
Divorced, African American and independent professional, Markle had the approval of a queen who was long-lived and intelligent enough to adapt to the times. Elizabeth II could not impose herself on the desire of that grandson, as long-suffering as he was rebellious, who had inherited - rather learned - the charisma and gift of people from her mother. The wedding took place in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018.
In an unprecedented event, after her father failed her, Meghan walked into the church alone and took her father-in-law's arm - Prince Charles - halfway to the altar, so that he would be the one to take her to where she was. she found her future husband. More entertainment and sports stars participated in the celebration than members of European royalty - Harry does not have as many inheritance commitments as his brother - as well as their families and friends, including the two ex-girlfriends of the prince.
The spouses received the title of Dukes of Sussex and took up residence at Frogmore Cotagge, Windsor. At the Portland Hospital in London, and incognito, on May 6 of this year Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor was born. His first surname comes from his paternal great-grandfather, Duke Philippe of Edinburgh. The second, by the royal house led by Isabel II. And there is the detail: the baby does not have a real title, but a surname. He is not a duke, an earl, much less a prince, like George, Charlotte and Louis, his cousins, the children of William.
Everything was announced through their Instagram account. And they baptized the baby in the privacy of the castle, without the Queen, without the press and without communicating the names of her godparents. "There are no real obligations for the newborn. The parents want her to grow up in the privacy of her home," say the dukes' spokesmen.
So Meghan, who before becoming an actress studied international relations and has an overwhelming popularity, seems to be the ideal ally of the prince. She shows it in each of the solidarity actions that they lead. While Harry, the boy who suffered too much, seems to have caused that healthy rebellion that he learned from his mother. And that explains why today, at 35 years old, he is the fundamental piece of a monarchy that does not lose its validity.
