134 Facts About Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

1.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a member of the British royal family.

2.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.

3.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex spent parts of his gap year in Australia and Lesotho, then underwent officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

4.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals, serving temporarily with his brother William and completed training as a troop leader.

5.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex launched the Invictus Games in 2014 and remains the patron of its foundation.

6.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex gives patronage to several other organisations, including the HALO Trust and Walking With The Wounded.

7.

In 2018, Harry was made Duke of Sussex prior to his wedding to American actress Meghan Markle.

8.

Together with his wife, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex sat down for a much-publicised interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, in which he said he was estranged from the royal family.

9.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was christened Henry Charles Albert David on 21 December 1984 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

10.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex took them to venues that ranged from Walt Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and homeless shelters.

11.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex began accompanying his parents on official visits at an early age; his first overseas tour was with his parents to Italy in 1985.

12.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex travelled with his family to Canada in 1991 and 1998.

13.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's mother died in a car crash in Paris the following year.

14.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex started at London's Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School.

15.

In June 2003, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, achieving a grade B in art and D in geography, having decided to drop history of art after AS level.

16.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex has been described as "a top tier athlete", having played competitive polo and rugby union.

17.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho.

18.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex passed the Regular Commissions Board in September 2004 and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined Alamein Company.

19.

On 13 April 2008, when he reached two years' seniority, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was promoted to lieutenant.

20.

In 2006, it was announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's unit was scheduled to be deployed in Iraq the following year.

21.

The head of the British army at the time, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said on 30 April 2007 that he had personally decided that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would serve with his unit in Iraq as a troop commander, and Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was scheduled for deployment in May or June 2007 to patrol the Maysan Governorate.

22.

In early June 2007, it was reported that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had arrived in Canada to train alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and British Army, at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat, Alberta.

23.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was immediately pulled out due to the fear that the media coverage would put his security and the security of fellow soldiers at risk.

24.

In October 2008, it was announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would follow his brother, father and uncle in learning to fly military helicopters.

25.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex attended the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, where he joined his brother.

26.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex Charles presented him with his flying brevet on 7 May 2010 at a ceremony at the Army Air Corps Base, Middle Wallop.

27.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was awarded his Apache Flying Badge on 14 April 2011.

28.

On 16 April 2011, it was announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had been promoted to captain.

29.

In June 2011, Clarence House announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would be available for deployment in current operations in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot.

30.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex went to Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, in the east of England, to complete his training to fly Apache helicopters.

31.

On 7 September 2012, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex arrived at Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan as part of the 100-strong 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps, to begin a four-month combat tour as a co-pilot and gunner for an Apache helicopter.

32.

On 18 September 2012, it was reported that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had been moved to a safe location after an attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion that killed two US marines.

33.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond stated that "additional security arrangements" were put in place, for Prince Harry Duke of Sussex could be a potential target, but added that he would face "the same risk as any other Apache pilot" while in combat.

34.

On 8 July 2013, the Ministry of Defence announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had successfully qualified as an Apache aircraft commander.

35.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex compared operating the Apache's weapons systems in Afghanistan to playing video games.

36.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex later revealed in his 2023 memoir Spare that he flew on six missions that resulted in him killing 25 Taliban members, writing that he felt he was trained to not view them as "people" but instead as "chess pieces" that had been taken off the board.

37.

On 17 January 2014, the Ministry of Defence announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had completed his attachment to 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, and would take up a staff officer role, SO3 in HQ London District.

38.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was based at Horse Guards in central London.

39.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex met British hopefuls for the Invictus Games at Tedworth House in Wiltshire for the start of the selection process on 29 April 2014.

40.

On 15 May 2014, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex attended a ticket sale launch for Invictus Games at BT Tower, from where he tweeted on the Invictus Games' official Twitter account as the president of the Games.

41.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex later wrote an article in The Sunday Times about his experiences in Afghanistan: how they had inspired him to help injured personnel and how, after the trip to the Warrior Games, he had vowed to create the Invictus Games.

42.

In January 2015, it was reported that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would take on a new role in supporting wounded service personnel by working alongside members of the London District's Personal Recovery Unit for the MOD's Defence Recovery Capability scheme to ensure that wounded personnel have adequate recovery plans.

43.

In late January 2015, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex visited The Battle Back Centre set up by the Royal British Legion, and Fisher House UK at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

44.

In February and March 2015, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex visited Phoenix House in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, a recovery centre run by Help for Heroes.

45.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex visited Merville Barracks in Colchester, where Chavasse VC House Personnel Recovery Centre is located, run by Help for Heroes in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and Royal British Legion.

46.

On 17 March 2015, Kensington Palace announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would leave the Armed Forces in June.

47.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would be working with both those who administer and receive physical and mental care within the London District area.

48.

On 6 April 2015, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex reported for duty to Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australia.

49.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex flew to Darwin later that day to begin his month-long secondment to the ADF's 1st Brigade.

50.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's visit included detachments to NORFORCE as well as to an aviation unit.

51.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex joined SASR members in Perth for live-fire shooting exercises with numerous Special Forces weapons at a variety of ranges.

52.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex completed an insertion training exercise using a rigid-hull inflatable boat.

53.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex spent time flying over Sydney as co-pilot of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and participated in counter-terrorism training in Sydney Harbour with Royal Australian Navy clearance divers.

54.

In 2021, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex described his 10 years in the army as "the happiest times in my life".

55.

In February 2021, the Palace confirmed that the Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would give up his position as Captain General Royal Marines and hand back all the other honorary military appointments.

56.

In mid-2016, Prince Harry began a relationship with American actress Meghan Markle.

57.

In May 1988, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex underwent a surgery for a minor hernia.

58.

In 2002, it was reported that, with Charles's encouragement, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had paid a visit to a drug rehabilitation unit to talk to drug addicts after it had emerged that he had been smoking cannabis and drinking at his father's Highgrove House and at a local pub in the summer of 2001.

59.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex adds in his memoir that he smoked cannabis at Eton and in Kensington Palace gardens, but he later told a court that "he never smoked in [his] father's house".

60.

In 2017 and during an appearance on Bryony Gordon's podcast Mad World, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex acknowledged that with the support of his brother he had sought counselling years after his mother's death.

61.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex later added that he had taken up boxing as a way of coping with mental stress and "letting out aggression".

62.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex mentioned that he had suffered from "panic attacks [and] severe anxiety" in his late 20s and that the heavy load of official visits and functions had eventually "led to burnout".

63.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was the subject of a prank by the Russian comedy duo Vovan and Lexus, who posed as climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father during two phone calls on New Year's Eve and 22 January 2020.

64.

In November 2021, in a panel at Wireds Re:Wired Conference, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex claimed that a day before the January 6 United States Capitol attack he emailed Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and 'warned' of potential civil unrest, but had not received a response.

65.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex later condemned the decision as "rolling back of constitutional rights" in his address to the United Nations on Mandela Day in July 2022.

66.

In June 2023, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex broke royal protocol by criticising the UK government in his witness statement to a court.

67.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex argued that both the British press and the government were "at rock bottom" and instead of scrutinising the government the press got "into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo".

68.

At the age of 21, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex became a Counsellor of State and began his duties in that capacity.

69.

Previously, William and Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's affairs had been handled by their father's office at Clarence House in central London.

70.

In March 2012, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex led an official visit to Belize as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

71.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex continued to the Bahamas and Jamaica, where the Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, was considering initiating a process of turning Jamaica into a republic.

72.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex then visited Brazil to attend the GREAT Campaign.

73.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex played tambourine and took part in the music video for the song "Sing", which was released in May 2012 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee.

74.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex met survivors of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey.

75.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex paid a visit to the Australian SAS HQ in Perth.

76.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex attended a reception at the Estonian Parliament and a NATO military exercise.

77.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex launched the Invictus Games Orlando 2016 with First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden at Fort Belvoir.

78.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex later attended an Invictus Games board meeting and a reception to celebrate the launch at the British Ambassador's Residence.

79.

On 26 November 2015, as patron of Sentebale, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex travelled to Lesotho to attend the opening of the Mamohato Children's Centre.

80.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex visited Cape Town, where he presented the insignia of the Order of the Companions of Honour to the Archbishop on behalf of the Queen.

81.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex played the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, at Val de Vie Estate in Cape Town, fundraising for Sentebale.

82.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex stayed until the end of March 2016 to help rebuild a secondary school with Team Rubicon UK, and visited a Hydropower Project in Central Nepal.

83.

Also in that month, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex became a patron of Walk of America, a campaign which brings together a number of veterans who will take part in a 1,000-mile expedition across the US in mid-2018.

84.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex remained the charity's president until February 2021.

85.

In July 2018, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex travelled to Dublin, Ireland, alongside his wife Meghan, which marked their first overseas visit as a couple.

86.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex met HIV+ youth and teenagers during his visit.

87.

In March 2020, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex attended the opening of the Silverstone Experience in Silverstone Circuit together with racing driver Lewis Hamilton.

88.

Prince Harry faced difficulties with obtaining and maintaining publicly-funded security, both in Canada and the United Kingdom, after he and the Duchess of Sussex announced their self-demotion within the royal family.

89.

In January 2022, it was reported that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had been in a legal fight since September 2021 over the Home Office's refusal to allow him to pay for police protection.

90.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had made the offer to pay during the Sandringham Summit and "self-evidently believed" that it would be passed on to the government.

91.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex filed a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police in August 2022, challenging the decision by RAVEC from January 2022 which stated that State security could not be made available to private individuals even if they wished to pay for it themselves.

92.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex lost the legal challenge in May 2023, meaning that he will not be allowed to make private payments for police protection.

93.

In March 2021, San Francisco-based mental health start-up BetterUp, a company that helps people get in contact with coaches or counsellors, said that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex would become its first chief impact officer.

94.

In July 2021, it was announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was set to publish his memoir Spare via Penguin Random House, with Prince Harry Duke of Sussex reportedly earning an advance of at least $20 million.

95.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex has granted his patronage to organisations including WellChild, Dolen Cymru, MapAction and the London Marathon Charitable Trust; he stepped down from MapAction in 2019 and the London Marathon Charitable Trust in 2021.

96.

In 2007, William and Prince Harry Duke of Sussex organised the Concert for Diana, in memory of their mother, which benefited the charities and patronages of Diana, William, and Prince Harry Duke of Sussex.

97.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex later attended the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, on 21 July 2016.

98.

In November 2019, to mark the National HIV Testing Week, the Prince Harry Duke of Sussex interviewed HIV+ Rugby player Gareth Thomas on behalf of the trust.

99.

On 27 December 2017, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was officially appointed the new president of African Parks, a conservation NGO.

100.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex previously spent three weeks in Malawi with African Parks where he joined a team of volunteers and professionals to carry out one of the largest elephant translocations in history.

101.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had previously helped with relocating rhinos in the Okavango Delta and later became patron of the Rhino Conservation Botswana.

102.

In September 2019, the Prince Harry Duke of Sussex launched Travalyst during his visit to the Netherlands after two years of development.

103.

In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the "Every Mind Matters" mental health program.

104.

In February 2020, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex recorded a new version of the song "Unbroken" with Jon Bon Jovi.

105.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex helped with the establishment of Peak State, a mental fitness programme aimed at providing tools and resources for managing mental health, to which he publicly lent his support in May 2021.

106.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had previously visited a minefield in Mozambique with the charity and spent two days learning about their work and mine-clearing techniques.

107.

In June 2021, after ten members of the trust were killed by an armed group at a mine clearance camp in Afghanistan, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex issued a statement saying the attack "was nothing less than an act of barbarism".

108.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex has enjoyed playing sports, such as competitive polo, skiing, and motocross.

109.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex is a keen Rugby football fan and supported England's bid to host rugby union's 2015 Rugby World Cup, and presented the trophy at rugby league's 2019 Challenge Cup finals.

110.

In 2004, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex trained as a Rugby Development Officer for the Rugby Football Union and coached students in schools to encourage them to learn the sport.

111.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had served as the RFU's vice-royal patron since 2010, supporting the Queen as patron.

112.

In 2012, Harry launched Coach Core alongside his brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

113.

In January 2017, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex visited the Running Charity and its partner Depaul UK to highlight the role of sport in helping homeless and vulnerable people.

114.

In June 2019, the Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was present at the launch of Made by Sport, a charity coalition set to raise money to boost sport in disadvantaged communities.

115.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's choice sparked a backlash from the media, politicians, and religious figures.

116.

Clarence House later issued a public statement in which Prince Harry Duke of Sussex apologised for his behaviour.

117.

In January 2005, in response to an inquiry about his Zimbabwean girlfriend Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex responded "She's not black or anything, you know".

118.

Clarence House immediately issued an apology from Prince Harry Duke of Sussex, who stated that no malice was intended in his remarks.

119.

St James's Palace confirmed that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was in the photographs, saying that he was essentially a victim whose privacy had been invaded and contacted the PCC upon hearing that a number of British newspapers were considering publishing the photographs.

120.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex referred to the incident as the "CBE scandal" in December 2021 and stated that he severed ties with Mahfouz in 2015 after expressing "growing concerns" about his motives, though aides from his father's household denied having any discussions with him regarding Mahfouz.

121.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex received backlash again in August 2021 and 2022 for taking a two-hour flight on private jets between California and Aspen, Colorado, to participate in an annual charity polo tournament.

122.

In 2018 and 2021, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex was selected as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine.

123.

In February 2022, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex filed a libel suit in the High Court against Associated Newspapers Limited for a Mail on Sunday article which alleged he was trying to keep his legal battle against the Home Office to restore his police protection secret from the public through requesting a confidentiality order on the case and that he offered to pay for police protection only after filing a lawsuit against the government.

124.

In October 2019, it was announced that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had sued the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World "in relation to alleged phone-hacking".

125.

At the beginning of trial, MGN apologised for one instance of unlawful information gathering against Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and added that his legal challenge "warrants compensation".

126.

In June 2023, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex testified in the court case accusing former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan of horrific personal attacks and claimed that his phone had been hacked dating back to when he was still at Eton.

127.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's appearance marked the first time a member of the royal family had given evidence in court since Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, appeared as a witness in court in 1891.

128.

In February 2014, a judge sentenced the convicted criminal Ashraf Islam to three years in prison, as he had plotted to murder Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and had given it "considerable thought" due to his belief that Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had "a moral guilt" since he was in the army.

129.

Lawyers for the couple subsequently accused the BBC of defamation and sent letters out to various media organisations saying the report was false and defamatory, and the allegations should not be repeated as Prince Harry Duke of Sussex had spoken to the Queen before announcing their daughter's name.

130.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex joined her later, and the pair talked about the initial difficulties associated with their move to the United States in 2020 and their plans for the future.

131.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex used Wales as his surname for military purposes and was known as "Captain Harry Wales" in such contexts.

132.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex thus became known as "His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex".

133.

Prince Harry Duke of Sussex uses the earldom in Scotland and the barony in Northern Ireland.

134.

Agnatically, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex is a member of the House of Glucksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe's oldest royal houses.