PRINCE HARRY
born: 15-09-1984
birth place: London, UK

A dedicated soldier and keen sportsman, Harry’s reputation as an unrepentant tear-away prince was made with youthful antics that would be normal for most teenagers but gained massive coverage for a member of the Royal Family.

His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales is the second son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. He is third in line to the British Throne after his father and his elder brother William. His full name is Henry Charles Albert David Wales, though in adult life he may take the family name Mountbatten-Windsor.

Harry was christened on 31 December, 1984, at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie. He has several godparents: his uncle, Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Lady Sarah Chatto; Lady Vestey; Mrs. William Bartholomew; Bryan Organ and Gerald Ward.

Harry’s boisterous nature was revealed early in his life, with the red-haired little boy displaying a roguish temperament. His parents were determined their boys would lead as normal a life as possible and Harry followed his older brother to Mrs Mynor’s Nursery School in Notting Hill Gate, West London and then to Wetherby School. He went to preparatory school at Ludgrove School in Wokingham.

In 1997, when Harry was just 12, he was staying at his grandmother the Queen’s Scottish estate Balmoral when his mother was killed in a car crash in Paris. Diana had been very close to her sons, involving them in her charity work and attempting to show them how the less-fortunate of the world lived. Her death affected the prince deeply and he was visibly distressed when the family emerged to view the massive collection of floral tributes and messages of sympathy mounted to the princess by the public. Harry walked with his father and brother in the funeral procession at his mother’s funeral and the sight of the young princes carrying themselves with dignity captured the approval and sympathy of the world. On Diana’s casket was a card from Harry made out to “Mummy”.

In 1998 Harry went to Eton College in Berkshire. At college he developed a keen love of sport and became particularly involved in polo, rugby, skiing and abseiling. It was while at college that Harry became embroiled in the first of several controversies. In 2002 it emerged that Harry had admitted smoking cannabis. He had been seen drinking at the Rattlebone Inn pub near his family’s estate at Highgrove, Gloucestershire and he had smoked cannabis at several of the after hours parties he hosted at the estate in the summer of 2001 when he was 16. The family did not deny the reports but stressed that Harry’s use was “experimental” and could not be described as “regular’’. A police investigation cleared Harry but his father Prince Charles spoke to his son about the dangers of drugs and sent him to a drug rehabilitation centre in south London, where he met recovering heroin and cocaine addicts.