Prince Harry Biography

Prince Harry is the second son of Britain’s King Charles III and the late Princess Diana, and the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. (Although his birth name is Henry, he is commonly called by his nickname of Harry.)

Prince Harry was born third in line to the throne of Queen Elizabeth II, after his father and his older brother, Prince William.

Like William, Harry attended Wetherby and Ludgrove schools; in September of 1998 he entered Eton College. Prince Harry followed family tradition by entering the Sandhurst military academy in 2005; he graduated in April of 2006, becoming a second lieutenant in the British Army’s Household Cavalry.

The Army announced in February of 2008 that Harry had just completed 10 weeks of active duty in Afghanistan; for security reasons, his deployment there had been kept secret by an agreement between the government and the British press.

Prince Harry has also founded his own charity, Sentebale, to help orphans and other young people in the African country of Lesotho.

He returned to Afghanistan in 2012 as an Apache helicopter co-pilot and gunner. Prince Harry left the Army in 2015 after 10 years of military service, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

In later years he has devoted himself to royal duties, with a special interest in veterans’ affairs; he organized the first Invictus Games, an Olympic-style competition for wounded and disabled veterans, in 2014.

Prince Harry’s romance with American actress Meghan Markle began in 2016, and the couple announced their engagement on November 27, 2017.

The pairing was unusual for the royal family: Markle was a divorcee, of mixed-race heritage, and three years older than Harry. The couple were married on May 19, 2018 at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Early on his wedding day, Queen Elizabeth II made Harry the Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel. Meghan Markle’s title became Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex.

Kensington Palace announced on October 15, 2018 that the couple was pregnant with their first child: “Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019.”

The child, a son whom they named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born on May 6, 2019. The couple had a daughter on June 4, 2021 and named her Lillibet Mountbatten-Windsor.

When Elizabeth II died in September of 2022, Harry’s children became Prince Archie and Princess Lillibet.