Prince Harry has made headlines since he was a young boy, but there's still a lot fans
might not know about the royal. From his teen years to whether or not he has a surname,
here are some things you might not know about him.
When Prince Harry was 13 years old, his father, Prince Charles, took him to visit South Africa,
and it was quite an eventful trip. After going on a safari, the young prince met iconic girl
group the Spice Girls. A BBC News article published at the time reported,
"The younger son of the Prince of Wales was a big hit with Baby Spice, Emma Bunton, who
held Harry's hand and kissed him tenderly on the cheek."
After meeting the Spice Girls, he and his father watched them perform at a charity concert
in Johannesburg. Their South African trip was in 1997, just a few months after the death
of Harry's mother, Princess Diana. According to the BBC, it was Harry's first big event
following the tragedy. Noting that this type of event was one the prince typically would
have attended with his mother, BBC correspondent Jennie Bond said,
"By bringing him, Prince Charles is showing, in some small way, how her influence lives
on."
"I hope that a lot of my mother's talents are shown in a lot of the work that I do."
After leaving Eton College in 2003, Prince Harry took a gap year to travel and volunteer.
According to the BBC, he spent some of his time working on a sheep farm in Australia.
Then he went to Lesotho where he volunteered to help orphans.
In fact, Harry's time in Lesotho had a huge impact on him, and he even co-founded nonprofit
Sentebale in 2006 with the prince of Lesotho, Prince Seeiso, to help children in the area,
many of whom have often been affected by HIV, AIDS, and poverty. The managing director of
the Touching Tiny Lives Foundation spoke highly of Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso's work,
telling ITV News,
"If it wasn't for Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, many of the children that we are supporting
wouldn't be alive. That's a fact."
On Sentebale's website, Harry spoke about his time in Lesotho and all he learned from
Seeiso, revealing,
"I was lucky enough to have an amazing guide in Prince Seeiso. His knowledge and compassion
for his country showed me that there could be a way of making a difference in Lesotho
that would go far beyond the building projects I worked on."
"It didn't take me long to be hooked on the country and to the irresistible smiles of
its children."
Through their shared passion for helping the children of Lesotho, the two princes formed
a real bond. In fact, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle avoided inviting many foreign politicians
and royals to their wedding in 2018, but they made an exception for Prince Seeiso. Notably,
he'd also been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011.
In 2012, English musician Gary Barlow created "Sing," a single for Queen Elizabeth II 's
Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The song, which Andrew Lloyd Webber co-wrote, features 230
musicians, with contributions coming from three continents. While Barlow was traveling
to record the various artists, he met up with Prince Harry in Jamaica and got the prince
to play the tambourine. Barlow recorded Harry's musical talents on his laptop, and his tambourine
playing appears on the finished track. Barlow talked about meeting the prince to The Daily
Beast, saying,
"He's fun and relaxed and he's a really nice kid."
After asking the royal to contribute to the song, Prince Harry initially told Barlow that
he didn't sing. But once the Take That frontman explained what he had in mind, Harry was apparently
game to join in. Barlow shared,
"Then we met him later on that night and he did the tambourine hit and we spun it into
the track. He probably hasn't got a clue what he's part of just yet."
As part of the royal family, Prince Harry grew up under a microscope. So, it makes sense
that the prince wanted to keep a low profile when it came to social media. In the biography
"Finding Freedom," the authors discuss Harry's secret Instagram account, @SpikeyMau5. The
seemingly random name was reportedly inspired in part by one of the prince's favorite DJs,
DeadMau5. The beginning of the handle, "Spikey," is apparently an alias the prince had used
before on Facebook when he went by "Spike Wells," according to Hello! magazine.
The username surfaced when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry first started dating. As the
authors of "Finding Freedom" explained,
"Although she shared much of her London visit on social media, Meghan knew she had to keep
her dates a secret. But the clues were there. Around the time of their first encounter,
she began to follow a mysterious-looking Instagram account by the name of @SpikeyMau5."
While it's fine to take an interest in the royal family, some admirers have reportedly
taken that interest several steps too far. According to the Express, some of these overly
enthused fans even refer to themselves as "Harry Hunters." They make a point of keeping
track of where Harry will be and try to run into him. One blogger detailed the prince's
tour stops in the U.S., saying,
"It is more than I could have hoped for [...] He goes and adds a stop in my home state of New
Jersey. No, it's not just to see me, although I've heard that's why he requested this tour
stop."
The Daily Mail even reported that one woman was arrested after trying to break into a
charity polo match the prince was playing in. About the incident, police spokesman Kraig
Gray said,
"Prince Harry is a high-prominence figure. There are some people who have got an unhealthy
attraction to him."
Prince Harry has proven himself to be quite the adventurer. In 2013, he trekked to the
South Pole on an expedition with the charity Walking With the Wounded. The charity helps
U.K. veterans reenter society and live independent lives, and these grueling annual trips are
presumably one of the ways the organization funds its vital work.
The prince is a patron of the charity, and when a group of 12 injured servicemen and
women decided to trek to the South Pole, he joined them. Together they completed a 200-mile
trek through harsh terrain, while pulling sleds weighing 150 pounds or more. The BBC
quoted Harry praising one of the veterans on the trek, Sergeant Duncan Slater, who became
an amputee during his Afghanistan service. The prince said,
"[Slater] simply doesn't find walking to the South Pole a big enough challenge [...] I
think everyone back home will appreciate the fact that just being able to walk 100km (62
miles) in these conditions with no legs is a pretty amazing feat in itself."
Prince Harry has had an illustrious military career. He served in the British Army for
ten years with two tours in Afghanistan. During that time, he eventually rose to the rank
of captain. However, he started as a cadet just like anyone else.
"I'm out here doing my job, that's all I can say at the moment."
The prince entered training in May 2005 and was known as Officer Cadet Wales. After completing
rigorous training, he joined the Blues and Royals, a cavalry regiment in the British
Army, in 2006.
In February 2008, the Ministry of Defense announced to the public that Harry had been
serving in Afghanistan for over two months by that time. The royal family released a
statement about his service, saying,
"Prince Harry is very proud to serve his country on operations alongside his fellow soldiers
and to do the job he has been trained for."
In their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan Markle revealed that
she and Prince Harry had actually exchanged vows days before their official wedding.
"Three days before our wedding, we got married."
As Markle explained,
"No one knows that but we called [the Archbishop of Canterbury], and we just said, 'Look, this
thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us.'"
This caused some confusion, as it left many wondering if the televised royal wedding had
been some kind of ruse. However, the Archbishop of Canterbury cleared things up, assuring
La Repubblica that the legal ceremony took place on Saturday, May 19, 2018. He revealed,
"I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed
a serious criminal offense if I signed it knowing it was false."
However, he did confirm that he had many meetings with the couple prior to the wedding, which
he considers confidential. So, based on his and Markle's statements, we're guessing the
couple exchanged vows in one of these meetings, and even if they weren't legally binding,
it's clear they meant a lot to Harry and his wife.
It's clear that Prince Harry's time in the military impacted him, and he's now passionate
about his work with veterans. Along with his patronage at Walking With the Wounded, he
also established the Invictus Games, an international sports competition for injured servicemen
and women. Per the royal family's official website,
"The inaugural Invictus Games in London 2014 used the power of sport to inspire recovery,
support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for wounded, injured
and sick Servicemen and women."
Prince Harry described the competition and the participants by saying,
"These Games have been about seeing guys sprinting for the finish line and then turning round
to clap the last man in. [...] These Games have shown the very best of the human spirit."
During his time in the military, Prince Harry was called Officer Cadet Wales. According
to The Guardian, as he advanced, he was known as Captain Wales. This is because the prince
doesn't technically have a last name. As part of the royal family, he's always had titles,
which identify him in place of any official family last name.
His full name is Henry Charles Albert David. Quite a mouthful, and as you may have noticed,
his first name isn't even Harry. That's just a nickname for Henry. Importantly, there's
not a last name in sight. In 2020, Harry dropped the title, "His Royal Highness," but he is
still called the Duke of Sussex, though that's not a last name either.
To make up for this lack of last name, both of his children are using the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
As noted by the royal family's official website,
"All The Queen's children, on occasions when they needed a surname, would have the surname
Mountbatten-Windsor. [...] Unless The Prince of Wales chooses to alter the present decisions
when he becomes king, he will continue to be of the House of Windsor and his grandchildren
will use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor."
Meghan Markle has been a known animal lover for years.
"But you know, I just love rescuing."
So, it's no surprise that she and Prince Harry adopted another rescue dog together. According
to People, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex adopted a black Labrador in August 2018. They
named their dog Pula, which they revealed has a very sentimental meaning for the couple.
Pula is the currency used in South Africa's Botswana, where Harry and Meghan spent time
after they first started their relationship. The country was clearly significant to the
couple as they returned to help with Elephants Without Borders.
The two took Pula and one of Markle's original rescue dogs, Guy, to their new home in Los
Angeles. However, Bogart had to be rehomed with friends in Canada since his old age made
it difficult to travel.
After Princess Diana's tragic death in 1997, most of her jewelry was given to her sons.
Notably, Prince Harry received Diana's iconic engagement ring, which features a sapphire
center surrounded by diamonds. In the documentary "The Diana Story," Paul Burrell, Diana's former
butler, recalled the prince saying,
"I remember when I held mummy's hand when I was a small boy and that ring always hurt
me because it was so big."
When Prince William was planning to propose to Kate Middleton, his younger brother offered
him their mother's engagement ring to give to her. As Burrell explained,
"His one thing he kept from his mother, he gave to his brother. That's selfless, kind,
and exactly who Diana was."
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