Being a member of the royal family has put Prince Harry in the public eye since he was just a child. His entire life has been highly publicized, and yet, there is still so much about him going on beneath the surface that fans aren’t aware of.
Here are some interesting facts about Prince Harry that you may not know!
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His real name is not actually Harry.
While we know him as Prince Harry, that is in fact, not his name at all.
His full name is Henry Charles Albert David of Wales, and his given surname is Mountbatten-Windsor.
He used to be in the military.
Harry had quite the military career before stepping into his royal duties.
He served in the army for 10 years, moving up the ranks until he was a Captain. He also did two tours in Afghanistan.
He was the first member of the royal family to be involved in military combat.
Captain Harry Wales was the first member of the royal family to be involved in on-the-ground military combat.
His uncle, however, Prince Andrew, flew helicopters in the Falklands War in 1982.
He is a feminist.
Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, revealed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that she believes men are able to support women and feminism while still maintaining a masculine exterior, “Like my husband!”
He was the best man at his brother, William’s wedding.
Back when Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot in 2011, William chose none other than his little brother, Harry, to be his best man.
He admitted that he was “just as nervous as William.”
He is sixth in line for the throne.
Since the birth of Prince William’s youngest son, Louis, Prince Harry has been bumped to back to be sixth in line for the throne. Meaning, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis would have to die before Harry could be crowned King .
He organizes and promotes the Invictus Games annually.
In recognition of his time spent in the army , Harry organizes the Invictus Games every year — an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both still serving or veteran.
He doesn’t want to be king.
When asked about the hypothetical situation in which he would need to step up and be King, Harry admitted that it would not be an ideal situation.
He said that no royal actually wants to be king or queen, as it is a majorly self-sacrificing duty that few can uphold.
If he were king, he would still want to do all of his own shopping.
“Even if I was king, I would do my own shopping. But it’s a tricky balancing act. We don’t want to dilute the magic … The British public and the whole world need institutions like it,” he told The Guardian of wanting “ordinary life.”
He supports mental health charities and goes to therapy regularly, himself.
“My search began when I was in my mid-20s,” he said to The Guardian .
“I needed to fix the mistakes I was making. My mother died when I was very young. I didn’t want to be in the position I was in, but I eventually pulled my head out of the sand, started listening to people and decided to use my role for good. I am now fired up and energized and love charity stuff, meeting people and making them laugh.”
He is a philanthropist.
Following in the footsteps of his late mother, and automatically by fulfilling his royal duties, Harry has done the most that he can to give back to charities.
“It’s about selflessness, rather than selfishness and I think in today’s culture, in today’s world, we need more role models that are willing to put others ahead of themselves,” he told HELLO! .
He admitted that some of the royal family’s dinner parties were quite mundane.
“You can imagine the kind of dinner parties I had to go to at a young age… pretty dull,” he told CBS .
“To be honest dinner conversations was the worst bit about being a child and listening to the boring people around me.”
There were times growing up when he and is brother, Prince William, wished they were “normal” instead of royal.
“There’s a lot of times that both myself and my brother wish obviously that we were just, you know, completely normal,” he told CBS
“But, you know, we’ve been born into this position. And then therefore, we’ll do what we need to do to make a difference to the people and to kids that need it, you know?”
He believes his wife, Meghan Markle, is under a lot of the same pressures that his mother, Princess Diana was under prior to her untimely death.
“I will always protect my family,” he told The Telegraph .
“And now I have a family to protect. Everything that she [Meghan] went through and what happened to her is incredibly raw, every single day, and that’s not me being paranoid, that’s just me not wanting a repeat of the past.”
