Prince Harry of Wales

Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor) (born September 15, 1984), colloquially known as Prince Harry, is third in the line of succession to the British Throne and in the lines to the thrones of the 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.

Birth and childhood

Prince 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, who died in 1997, the former wife of the Prince of Wales. He has an elder brother, Prince William. His full title is His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales.

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.

It has been widely speculated that Major James Hewitt, a former British household cavalry officer, is in fact the natural father of Prince Harry. The prince's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, admitted in her famous Panorama interview that she had committed adultery with Hewitt, saying, "Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him." Hewitt became Diana's riding instructor, with the affair said to have begun in 1987 and ending in 1992. However, in a recent interview, Maj. Hewitt admitted under hypnosis that he'd met Diana in 1981 or 1982 and that their affair began shortly afterward, fuelling widespread conspiracy theories that he may actually be Prince Harry's natural father. [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16147029&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=hypno-di-sed-name_page.html. Speaking in The Sunday Mirror, Hewitt said: "Admittedly the red hair is similar to mine and people say we look alike."

In 2002 it was reported in the British media that Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles's private secretary, had alerted the police about an alleged plot to seize hair from Prince Harry for DNA testing. ^*

Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

On August 31, 1997, Harry's mother died following in a car accident in Paris, with her companion Dodi Al-Fayed. Her death came a few 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 funeral, 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 close-up images of the princes during the service itself. Both princes have been praised for their strength shown on that day. During his eulogy, the Earl Spencer promised that the Spencer family would take an active interest in looking after Diana's children, although Harry has seen little of him since then, or of Diana's mother before her death.

Education

Harry attended the Mrs. Jane Mynors's nursery school in West London, as did William. He later followed his brother to the Wetherby School, and later to Ludgrove School in Berkshire. He later attended Eton College in Berkshire. In June 2003, he completed his education at Eton with two A-levels in geography and art. At school, he developed his love of sport, particularly polo and rugby. 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 holiday.

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. ^*

Royal duties

In April 2006, Prince Harry launched a charity with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to aid children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The charity is named Sentebale: The Princes' Fund for Lesotho. Sentebale is a Sesotho word meaning forget-me-not. The name is meant to honor both princes' mothers: the former Princess of Wales, who died in 1997; and Queen 'MaMohato of Lesotho, who died in 2003. Prince Harry was in Lesotho to launch the charity and returned to Mants'ase Children's Home near Mohale's Hoek, which he visited in 2004 during his gap year.

Army

Prince Harry passed out as a newly commissioned officer at the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in April 2006. He will continue to use Wales as a last name and is now known in the army as Cornet Wales. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2131723,00.html

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. ^* 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

As it does for his brother, the media continues to speculate about any possible romantic attachments of Prince Harry, especially young women in his social circle (including Kristina Schwarz, the daughter of a British billionaire), and sometimes those he met in nightclubs. The prince's best known romance until now has been with Chelsy Davy (born 1985), a Zimbabwe-born heiress to an African ranching and real estate fortune. 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. ^* As of July 2006, the English tabloid press still appeared to believe they were together, with The Sun, The Mirror, and The Daily Mail all referring to Chelsy as Harry's girlfriend.

Controversies

As it does for his brother, the media continues to seek and generate stories about Harry's private life. In January 2002, it was revealed that the prince had admitted smoking cannabis, raising the possibility that criminal charges would be filed against him in the summer of 2002. 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.

On the morning of October 21, 2004, Prince Harry had an altercation with paparazzo photographer as he left a nightclub in Piccadilly Circus. The photographer was left with a cut lip, but the Prince was 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.

On January 8, 2005, Harry attended a fancy-dress party (costume party) on the theme of "Colonials and Natives". Choosing not to wear British uniform, 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. The Prince was also photographed at the event holding a cigarette and a drink. Disapproval was expressed of Harry's apparent ignorance of some historical sensitivities and the perceived message of disrespect for British World War II veterans and their families. The controversy was in part 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." 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."

Some parts of the British media ^* have also objected to Prince Harry attending a lap-dancing club.

Style and arms

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—)

External links

Royal.gov.uk- Prince Harry
About the Prince - From Prince of Wales official Site
www.throneout.com - Anti-monarchy site questions paternity of Prince Harry
Illustrated biography of Prince Harry

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