While Prince Harry has always lived in the lap of luxury, he's actually experienced his
fair share of darkness as well. If you're curious to learn some heartbreaking details
about Prince Harry, here are some of this royal's most tragic experiences.
While life as a royal comes with unthinkable wealth and privilege, it also requires
dealing with the almost daily barrage of the press. Ever since Prince Harry was a child,
he's had to put up with overly inquisitive reporters and undeniably intrusive photographers.
In fact, the paparazzi have been a thorn in the side of the royal family for decades.
As Town and Country reported in 2020, a television program entitled Lucy Worsley's Royal Photo Album
delved into the troublesome nature of the British press for the royal family. Spoiler — it's a lot.
When it comes to Harry, members of the press have been known to use
drones and helicopters to intrude upon his and his family's life.
This was especially the case when Harry and Meghan Markle started dating, though he reportedly did
everything in his power to hide from their intrusive lenses, according to Vanity Fair.
Things got so bad that Harry eventually filed several lawsuits against the hounding press.
Growing up in the '80s and '90s, it was practically impossible to avoid hearing
about the devastating passing of Princess Diana.
The young princess lost her life in a car accident in 1997, when Harry was just 12 years old.
For Diana's two sons, William and Harry, her passing was a traumatic, life-changing event
that would take years for them to process. In a documentary called Our Mother Diana:
Her Life and Legacy, Prince Harry opened up about the loss of his mother, saying,
"There's not a day that William and I don't wish that she was still around. We wonder
what kind of a mother she would be now [...] and what a difference she would be making."
Harry also confessed that he still thinks about his last phone call with his mother,
and wishes he could have expressed more in that last talk.
In 2017, Harry opened up about his personal struggles with mental health.
As he told The Telegraph, it wasn't until he was in his late 20s
that he accepted that he needed help dealing with his grief.
The royal recalled how he often felt a "fight or flight" sensation while at public engagements.
He even described experiencing irrational angry episodes that he couldn't explain. He revealed,
"I just didn't know what was wrong with me."
As it turns out, Harry's bottled-up grief about the loss of his mother had led to
what could almost be described as a mental breakdown — which is why
the royal decided to get the help he'd needed for so long.
"Everyone needs a hug now and then."
In 2020, Harry went into more detail about his mental health journey. According to Page Six,
he explained at an event that he'd been in therapy for three years to
process his trauma. It's undeniably sad that Harry felt that he couldn't
get professional counseling until more than 20 years after his mother's passing.
Most people would agree that the teenage years are pretty important for a person's development.
But for Prince Harry, having a normal school life was impossible. The royal went to boarding school
starting at age 13, and on his very first day, he was followed around by the press as he met his
teachers and toured the school, according to the BBC. Additionally, while Harry had his own room,
unlike the other students, he also had a full-time bodyguard who slept in the room next door.
In 2018, The Cut spoke to some of Harry's fellow boarding school students.
One recalled that while William was integrated with the other students,
Harry, quote, "had it harder finding his way." Another student explained that while everyone
tried to make life as normal as possible for the young prince, it was often impossible,
thanks to his bodyguards and the occasional visits from the Queen.
After leaving school, Harry entered the Army, like many of his royal predecessors.
According to the royal family's website, he was a member of the Army until 2015,
but he maintained many of his titles afterward. As ITV reported, those titles were: Captain
General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington,
and Honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Naval Commands' Small Ships and Diving.
However, when Harry and Meghan stepped back from the royal family, he had to give up these
titles — even though he had originally planned to maintain them for life. As he said in 2015,
"I will continue to wear the uniform and mix with fellow
servicemen and women for the rest of my life."
After losing the titles he'd worked so hard for, Prince Harry was reportedly
"devastated," as an insider told The Sun.
For Harry, growing up as a direct descendant of the Queen of England meant he had to
obey a series of strict rules. And while most of us know that Harry became known
as somewhat of a "bad boy" in his early adulthood, it turns out,
he was actually showing signs of rebellion as early as 8 years old.
According to a series of letters written by Princess Diana, young Harry always
had trouble abiding by the royal rules. The notes, published in The Telegraph,
explained that Harry was "constantly in trouble" at boarding school.
"One of her mottos to me was, you can be as naughty as you want, just don't get caught."
While it's unclear exactly what mischief Harry was getting up to at that time,
it's clear that he didn't care much for the royal code.
Eventually, Harry was labeled a rebel, thanks to his penchant for partying. And
his 2019 decision to step back from the royal family was arguably the ultimate rebel move.
According to People magazine, being a younger sibling as a royal sadly makes you the so-called
"spare" — which means Prince Harry is exactly that to his older brother, Prince William.
Queen Elizabeth's sister Princess Margaret also struggled to find her
place in the family. As Robert Lacey, who wrote the books Majesty and Monarch, said,
"The system has not found a way of giving them the recognition that they need."
The problem comes down to the fact that the younger sibling of a royal
heir is another potential heir — that is, until the older sibling has children.
This puts the "spare" in a pretty confusing position. While they aren't as important as
their older sibling, they are kept in reserve as another alternate heir. This
odd mixture of pressure and uselessness would surely make it hard for Harry to feel normal.
Finding real romance as a prince couldn't have been easy for Harry.
Fortunately, he finally fell in love with a woman willing to make the necessary
sacrifices that come with marrying into the royal family — Meghan Markle.
But things were far from easy for the royal couple. One major reason?
The British press hounded Harry and his wife relentlessly, often publishing some problematic
stories — and some of the press coverage of the royal couple was downright racist.
"My British friends said to me, I'm sure he's
great but you shouldn't do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life."
Eventually, the tabloids acknowledged their problematic coverage of the couple. However,
for Harry and Meghan, the damage had been done. According to ABC News,
the couple released a public statement to leaders of the major British tabloids,
saying that they wouldn't cooperate with them after how they were treated. It's pretty
tragic that Harry had to watch his wife being treated so poorly by his own country's press.
It's no secret that the modern world can be a stressful place to live for a variety of reasons,
with one of the most unsettling among them being the ongoing climate crisis.
Even Prince Harry has sleepless nights worrying about the potentially tragic future of our planet.
As Harry reportedly told a student he met while traveling through Africa,
he sometimes feels overwhelmed by the threat posed by climate change,
according to The Telegraph. But rather than do nothing, the student added,
"[Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to] use their platform to enable grass-roots change
and to try and create a better society."
"No one can deny science. Otherwise we live in a very very troubling world."
Harry has also spoken out about the need to acknowledge that the coronavirus outbreak may
also be linked to, in his words, "our exploitation of nature."
There's no doubt that someone in Harry's position is highly
informed about the world's biggest issues,
so it's no wonder he gets depressed — but at least he's determined to make a positive impact.
In one of the most shocking moments in the history of the royal family, Harry and Meghan
announced their decision to "step back" from their royal roles in 2019. In the announcement,
Harry expressed, quote, "great sadness" at the decision. And let's face it: the couple's
departure from royal life was sad for everyone involved, including fans of the royal family.
According to an episode of the Royally Obsessed podcast,
the couple's last royal engagement was incredibly difficult for Harry. The hosts explained,
"He looked very emotional at the Mountbatten Festival of Music.
When they received a standing ovation, people thought Harry looked a little teary-eyed."
While Harry was clearly upset to leave the royal family,
he also felt that he had no choice, as People magazine noted.
Almost everyone has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic that began in 2019
in some way. And like many others, Prince Harry was personally impacted by a tragic
loss caused by COVID-19. According to Metro, Harry and his brother William served with a
fellow soldier named Ryan Cartwright who caught the virus and passed away.
Cartwright was just 36 years old when he tragically succumbed to the illness.
In addition to taking the life of a fellow soldier, COVID-19
also forced Harry to miss out on a trip to the UK to visit family, according to Mirror.
And, if that wasn't enough, his own father, Prince Charles, contracted the virus in March of 2020.
It's no secret that Harry and Meghan have had their issues with negative press,
thanks to overly inquisitive public attention. In fact, the couple's surprising departure from
royal life shows their unwillingness to live under the scrutiny of the tabloids. And while Harry and
Meghan's move to America initially seemed to offer a much-needed break from the public's prying eyes,
some experts believe that the couple will never be able to lead a normal life.
On the Us Weekly podcast Royally Us, royal expert Simon Morgan said that
the couple will most likely never get the privacy they seek. He explained,
"Once you withdraw from something, people naturally want to know what you're doing."
He added that moving to the United States could potentially compromise their privacy more,
due to the attitudes people have on this side of the pond.
Sadly, it's all too probable that Harry and his wife will always be plagued by the paparazzi,
even though they moved to another country — and their security team can only do so much.
For most of their lives, Harry and William were incredibly close. After all,
they've been through a lot together. However, as The Sun reported, the two brothers had a
pretty serious feud that lasted for two years, beginning in 2018. Apparently, it all began
when William tried to interfere with Harry's relationship with Meghan. One reporter shared,
"I was told by a number of sources that [Prince Harry] went ballistic."
Then in October of 2019, Harry confessed that his relationship with William had indeed
changed. In the documentary Harry and Meghan: An African Journey,
Harry spoke candidly about the ups and downs of his relationship with William, saying,
"Stuff happens. But look, we're brothers. We'll always be brothers."
"As brothers, you know, you have good days you have bad days."
The royal then added that the press had exaggerated the rift — which probably
shouldn't be too surprising at this point. Fortunately,
Harry and William's relationship has reportedly turned a corner.
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