These days, Prince Harry is so much more than just the ginger-haired "spare to the heir"
— and he certainly has Meghan Markle to thank for that, for better or for worse.
Here's how Meghan — and "Megxit" — changed the Duke forever.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they'd be stepping back from their roles as senior
royals in January 2020 — and that was just the beginning of the drama.
As he would later reveal to Oprah Winfrey, Harry became increasingly worried about his
wife's mental health, given the coverage she was receiving in the press and the lack of
support the couple received from the royal family.
"I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, and that's
the part that's really hard to reconcile."
After stepping away from The Firm, Harry and Meghan revealed they would also be taking
the necessary steps to become financially independent from the royal coin purse, something
that hasn't been seen very often among royal children.
"My family literally cut me off financially."
As noted by BBC News at the time, a spokesperson confirmed on behalf of now-King Charles III
that he had given Harry and Meghan "a substantial sum" of money to help support them during
their exodus from royal life, but only for a limited time.
The spokesperson said,
"That funding ceased in the summer of [2020].
The couple is now financially independent."
How so?
Well, Harry was entitled to a considerable amount of money left to him by Princess Diana,
and Meghan came to their union as a successful actress herself.
And then there's the couple's Netflix and Spotify deals, reportedly worth a combined
$160 million.
"'Hey!
It's me.'
I'm just excited to be myself and talk and be unfiltered."
Perhaps one of the biggest ways Prince Harry has changed since being married to Meghan
Markle has been the shift made in his living arrangements.
Having spent his entire life living in the United Kingdom, Harry's big relocation to
Montecito, California was a dynamic change that few expected.
But as it became more and more clear that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were struggling
to find support within the royal family amid ever-increasing scrutiny from the press and
public, Harry and Meghan ultimately decided to move their then-family of three to the
golden coast.
Meghan told The Cut that their search for a new home came to a halt when they stepped
foot on the grounds of a stunning mansion in the Santa Barbara County foothills.
The $14.65 million property had everything a former royal couple would need — the main
home, a pool house, stunning property, and chickens, to boot.
While Prince Harry has always had royal fans and has been the subject of many celebrity
crushes, he spent a good chunk of his time both as a kid and young adult in his older
brother's shadow.
The old adage goes that Diana Spencer needed to give birth to "an heir and a spare," and
while Prince William, Prince of Wales, will most certainly be king one day, his younger
brother is much farther away from the throne.
As such, he has been afforded more freedoms than William, but had far less attention paid
to him.
In her book, "Harry: Life, Loss and Love," Katie Nicholl asserted that Harry has been
"acutely aware of his position" as it relates to his brother, testifying that the young
redhead was seldom given the same recognition and treatment as William.
However, when Harry married Meghan Markle and took his life into his own hands, things
began to drastically change.
Of his positioning in the royal family after he married Meghan, Harry explained that he
and his brother seldom see eye to eye.
He said in ITV documentary, "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,"
"Part of this role and part of this job, this family, being under the pressure that it's
under, inevitably stuff happens.
We're certainly on different paths at the moment, but I'll always be there for him and
as I know he'll always be there for me."
"My father and my brother, they are trapped.
They don't get to leave.
And I have huge compassion for that."
Members of The Firm seldom talk openly about their struggles with mental health.
But when Prince Harry tied the knot with Meghan Markle, he was suddenly ready to share his
truth — the good, the bad, all of it.
"Mental fitness is the, is the pinnacle, it's what you're, what you're aiming for."
Since Meghan entered his life, Harry has become more willing to talk about his late mother,
Diana Spencer, surely a sensitive topic after losing such a devoted parent as a young boy
in the public eye.
In his AppleTV+ docuseries, "The Me You Can't See," Harry shared that in his younger life,
he simply didn't want to think about Diana due to the tragedy surrounding her life and death.
Harry said,
"I don't want to think about her, because if I think about her then it's going to bring
up the fact that I can't bring her back and it's just going to make me sad."
And yet with time — and a supportive spouse — Harry addressed his sadness and transformed
his perspective.
He added,
"I have no doubt that my mom would be incredibly proud of me.
I'm living the life that she wanted to live for herself, living the life that she wanted
us to be able to live.
[...] I've never felt her presence more as I have done over the last year."
It can be hard to introduce your spouse to your family, especially if you've had a relatively
tight-knit dynamic.
Dedicated to the crown and service above all else, the members of The Firm spend the majority
of their lives performing royal duties — an obligation that Prince Harry gave up after
he married Meghan Markle.
Given his prominence in the royal family and his then-close relationship with his older
brother, Prince William, Harry was said to have enjoyed a close bond with his sister-in-law,
Catherine Middleton.
Their mutual dedication to the crown — plus their sibling-like friendship — allowed
the three young royals to appear as a united front.
But when Harry introduced Meghan into the royal fold, cracks began to form.
In Tom Bower's book, "Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors," the author
details that Harry and Kate's relationship specifically was thrust into uncomfortable
territory when the Duke of Sussex asked the now-Princess of Wales to be kinder to Meghan.
Bower wrote,
"Members of their family, said Harry, were not showing her sufficient support, respect,
and friendship.
Meghan, Harry believed, should be just as appreciated as their mother."
It's since been reported that Kate has been playing "peacemaker," trying to get Harry
and William back on speaking terms, but her efforts so far appear to have been unsuccessful.
Some royal watchers may think that keeping a stiff upper lip is the right approach for
the family, but Prince Harry's attitude — especially regarding mental health — has changed since
being married to Meghan Markle.
"We all know what the British press can be like, and it was destroying my mental health."
"Really?"
"I was like, 'This is toxic.'"
Amid his exodus from royal life, Harry has shared the realities of the monarchy and the
toll the lifestyle can take on a person's well-being.
In a number of high-profile media appearances, Harry has discussed the generational traumas
that were passed down from his parents, telling "Armchair Expert" host Dax Shepard in particular
that the pain in his life has been cyclical.
Harry said,
"I'm going to make sure that I break that cycle so I don't pass it on.
[...] We as parents should be doing the most what we can to try and say, 'You know what,
that happened to me, I'm gonna make sure that doesn't happen to you.'"
After tying the knot in 2018, Harry transformed from one of the world's most eligible bachelors
into a happily married man.
Then, in 2019, little Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born.
Harry revealed in "The Me You Can't See" that after becoming a father, he was terrified
of his wife experiencing the same fate as his mother, who similarly faced intense media scrutiny.
It was the birth of his son that spurred action on Harry's part, and he took the steps to
get his wife and child out of the United Kingdom.
Harry said,
"I then had a son, who I would far rather be solely focused on, rather than every time
I look in his eyes wondering whether my wife is going to end up like my mother and I'm
going to have to look after him myself.
That was one of the biggest reasons to leave, feeling trapped, and feeling controlled through fear."
Now, Harry and Meghan have two children, Archie and Lilibet, with Harry telling NBC's "Today"
that he loves having "two little people" he's responsible for.
Before Meghan Markle came into his life, Prince Harry was known as a sweet, albeit troubled
kid with a proclivity for partying, dating, and wearing one really inappropriate costume.
On the outside, it looked as though he was enjoying the high life as a bachelor, but
the prince revealed in "The Me You Can't See" that his behavior stemmed from a far more
negative place than many could have predicted.
He said,
"I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the
things that made me feel less like I was feeling."
It was only after Meghan entered his life — and after the prince started sharing more
of his personal story — that Harry opened up about his past drug and alcohol use as
a coping mechanism.
The Duke added,
"I slowly became aware that I wasn't drinking Monday to Friday, but I would probably drink
a week's worth in one day on a Friday or a Saturday night.
And I would find myself drinking, not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying
to mask something.
Until Meghan Markle came into Prince Harry's life, the prince had not only enjoyed the
luxuries of royal life, but he also navigated the world as a white, accomplished, educated
man — the pinnacle of success in a patriarchal culture.
It wasn't until he witnessed the racism Meghan faced in the United Kingdom that he began
regularly speaking out against it publicly.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in the couple's sit-down interview, Harry revealed that a
"large part" of why he and Meghan sought a life in California was due to the "bigoted"
and "toxic environment" the tabloids created.
"Did you leave the country because of racism?"
"It was a large part of it."
In "The Me You Can't See," Harry shared that one of his biggest regrets was not defending
his wife sooner.
He even went as far as to call out the environment it created and how it directly linked to his
mother's death, saying,
"History was repeating itself.
My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn't
white and now look what's happened.
You want to talk about history repeating itself, they're not going to stop until [Meghan] dies."
Royal watchers can only pick up on so much from observing familial relationships from
the outside, but even Prince Harry has confessed that his relationship with his father, King
Charles III, has changed since he married Meghan Markle.
Speaking about what he and Meghan Markle experienced at the hands of the press — and The Firm
— while still senior royals, Harry explained in "The Me You Can't See" that he thought
his father would help tame the tabloid beast, saying,
"I thought my family would help, but every single ask, request, warning, whatever, it
just got met with total silence, total neglect."
Harry then called his father out for his attitude about the UK press, adding,
"My father used to say to me, when I was younger, he used to say to both William and I, 'Well,
it was like that for me.
So it's going to be like that for you.'
That doesn't make sense — just because you suffered it doesn't mean that your kids have
to suffer."