Prince Harry Biography
Biography
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Prince Harry is known as the less studious of the young Princes of Wales. He is an avid sports fan and participated in several teams at Eton College, where he received the lowest A-level grades in the year (a B in art and a D in geography). He plans to apply for Sandhurst military college after taking a gap year.
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. At
school, Prince Harry is
currently known as Officer Cadet
Wales or Mr Wales.
Charles is said to have wanted a
daughter, and to have been
deeply disappointed when the
baby was a boy; worse, according
to Diana's version of events,
Harry, Charles ruefully noted,
had "ruddy hair", a Spencer
family trait. Biographers agree
that their marriage was already
troubled before then, and became
irreparably broken shortly
afterwards. Some people note
that Harry shares red hair
colour with Diana's lover James
Hewitt, and see this superficial
characteristic enough to doubt
Charles' paternity. Hewitt's
affair with Diana may not have
begun until well after Harry was
born. On 29th June 2005, the Sun
newspaper published extracts
from a close friend of Princess
Diana, that proved Prince
Charles was Harry's father.
Harry resembles both his
paternal grandfather in his
youth and increasingly the
Prince of Wales.
On August 31, 1997, Prince Harry's
mother died following in a car
accident in Paris, with her
partner Dodi Al-Fayed and their
driver Henri Paul (although a
bodyguard survived, probably
because he was the only one in
the car wearing a seat belt).
Her death came 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
tragic news.
At Diana's celebrity-studded
funeral - which was broadcast
live throughout the world - the
princes, 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 the princes
during the service itself; Harry
reportedly broke down and sobbed
several times. Both princes were
praised for their strength shown
on that day.
Contrary to his eulogy, in which
he promised that Diana's "blood
family" would take over her
less-traditional upbringing of
them, the boys have seen little
of the Earl Spencer and the
other members of Diana's family.
Harry attended the Mrs. Jane
Mynors's nursery school in West
London, the same as William. He
later followed his brother to
the pre-prep Wetherby School,
and later to Ludgrove School in
Berkshire. He later attended the
prestigious Eton College in
Eton, Berkshire. In June 2003,
he finished Eton with two
A-levels in Geography and Art,
of grades D and B respectively.
At school, he developed his love
of sport, particularly polo and
rugby union. He has also
participated in the Eton Wall
Game.
After finishing Eton, Prince
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
vacation, but returned amid
rumours of drunkenness and a
kidnapping attempt. [2]
On May 8, 2005, the Prince
entered the Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst. There he is
known as Officer Cadet Wales
instead of using his royal
title, and will be part of
Alamein Company. [3] He has
expressed interest, upon
commissioning, of joining the
Household Cavalry.
The prince's only serious
romance has been with Chelsy
Davy (born 1985), a
Zimbabwe-born heiress to an
African ranching and real estate
fortune. According to published
reports quoting the young
woman's uncle Paul Davy, she and
the prince discussed marriage in
December 2004. This desire,
however, resulted in no public
announcements of any engagement,
formal or informal, and the
couple reportedly broke off
their relationship in February
2005. However, 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.
Some of Harry's actions have
provoked widespread media
attention. In January 2002, it
was revealed that the prince had
admitted smoking marijuana and
had allegedly engaged in
under-age drinking, raising the
possibility that criminal
charges would be filed against
him in the summer of 2001. 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. However, the basement of
Charles's Highgrove home is
rumoured to be a private
nightclub nicknamed "Club H",
where Harry and his friends can
entertain themselves free of
observation by the press.
On the morning of October 21,
2004, Prince Harry had an altercation
with a paparazzo as he left
Pangaea, a Piccadilly Circus
nightclub. 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.
The "Harry the Nazi" photo on
the cover page of The Sun.On
January 8, 2005, Harry attended
a "fancy-dress" party (costume
party) on the theme of
"Colonials and Natives" at the
country estate of Olympic show
jumper Richard Meade in
Wiltshire. Choosing not to use
any British reference, 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. A
reporter from The Sun who had
been tipped off previously took
a photo of Harry that also
showed him holding a cigarette
and a drink. The incongruity of
his 'costume' was punctuated by
the fact that the swastika on
the armband was of the type used
by the Finnish military. After
the photo was published in the
January 13, 2005 issue of The
Sun, an intense controversy
resulted, including demands that
the prince be barred from
entering the Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst (as well as
contrary demands that he join
the Army as soon as possible).
The uproar was caused not by a
simple distasteful choice of
costume, but because of Harry's
apparent ignorance of historical
sensitivities and the alleged
message of disrespect for
British World War II veterans
and their families, which
included his own grandparents:
the Queen and the Duke of
Edinburgh. The controversy was
exacerbated because the party
took place exactly two weeks
before the British commemoration
of 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". Prince Charles,
who was reportedly "incandescent
with rage" over the incident,
ordered Harry and his brother
William—who was present when
Harry chose his outfit—to visit
Auschwitz privately, with
members of a Jewish charity, to
learn about the Holocaust, its
causes, and consequences.
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...", although
other printed media and
newspapers were more
deferential.
Prince Harry with his brother
Prince Harry in an official
portrait for his 21st birthdayAs
the second-born son of the
Prince of Wales, it is unlikely
that Harry will succeed to the
throne. It should be noted
however that five out of the
seven British monarchs since
1830 did not appear likely to
succeed to the throne when they
were born. While Edward VII and
Edward VIII were the eldest son
of the monarch, George V and
George VI were second-born sons,
Elizabeth II was the first
daughter of the latter, William
IV was a third-born son, and
Victoria the daughter of a
fourth son. In addition, three
of those five only found out
that they would probably become
monarch when they were older
than Harry is at time of writing
(2005): George VI, George V, and
William IV. Going along the
traditional notion of having an
"heir and a spare", Harry might
be viewed as the "spare", in
case anything happens to his
brother. Charles has stressed
that Harry, because of his
position, must be of use in his
life, and has rejected the boy's
"ambition" of becoming a
professional polo player.
Coat of Arms of HRH Prince Harry
of WalesPrince 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.
His parents, the Prince and
Princess of Wales, announced
when revealing his name that
though officially Prince Henry
of Wales he would be called in
practice Prince Harry.
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