Even at the age of 18, Prince Harry admittedly had a lot of growing up
to do. According to his new Netflix documentary,
he found what he needed far away from the United Kingdom's palaces and halls of power.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's two children, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor,
are growing up in a much different environment from the one their father was raised in.
The book "Diana and Jackie: Maidens, Mothers, Myths" describes the childhood of Harry and
his brother, William, Prince of Wales, as roaming the halls of palaces and getting
lessons in proper royal protocol. A world away from the U.K., Lilibet and Archie are living in
a more relaxed atmosphere. Meghan and Harry reportedly wanted their kids to have a more
conventional upbringing, so they moved to sunny Montecito, California. An insider told People,
Stepping down as senior royals also seemingly helped the Duke and Duchess of Sussex be as
present as possible in their children's lives. On her podcast, "Archetypes," Meghan painted an
idyllic picture of Harry helping her get Archie ready for school before she cooks breakfast for
the family. But she also confesses that their mornings at home with two kids are rather hectic.
Harry opens up about his royal upbringing and how he's bringing up his own children
in the Netflix docuseries "Harry & Megan." The prince recalls first visiting the South
African country of Lesotho when he was 18. There, he found a friend in Prince Seeiso,
who also knew the pain of losing a parent who was beloved by her country. Harry started
making yearly sojourns to Lesotho, sometimes spending months at a time
forging an even stronger bond with the man whom he thought of as a brother. He said,
"I've got a second family out there and a group of friends that literally brought me up."
Harry and Seeiso teamed up to create the children's charity Sentebale in
2006. Harry said in a speech at the charity's launch that it was meant
to honor their late mothers, Queen Mamohatoand Princess Diana. He said,
Harry was still involved with the nonprofit as of August 2022, with Good Morning America
reporting that he competed in a polo match in Aspen, Colorado, benefitting the charity.
A year before Prince Harry first visited Lesotho, various news outlets reported on
the then-17-year-old royal's hard-partying ways, which included accounts of underage
drinking. In "Harry & Meghan," Harry explained that he was still having a difficult time coping
with the death of his mother and being hounded by the paparazzi wasn't helping.
According to a 1988 People profile of the royal family, Diana tried her best to provide
young Harry with a sense of normalcy. While Diana received assistance from two nannies,
the princess personally bathed her kids at night and entertained them with stories. She
also refused to cut to the front of the line when her sons went to meet Santa Claus at a
department store, ensuring that the little princes didn't always get special treatment.
Diana was also young at heart and shared Harry's spirit for adventure. In a 2016 appearance on
"Good Morning America," Harry revealed that one of his fondest memories of his mom is from a visit to
America — specifically, Disney World, where he claimed to have gone on Space Mountain 14 times.
"There's all sorts of places over the world where we were
very lucky to have those moments with our mother."
If Prince Harry got his wish, he would have evaded the media attention that
his mother loathed by moving far away from the U.K. after becoming a father.
He didn't originally set his sights on America, either. In November 2022,
one of his close friends, primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, told the Daily Mail,
Harry does have plans to visit Africa with his children someday, presumably when they're old
enough to appreciate the experience. He said in the documentary "Prince Harry in Africa,"
He'll also be able to tell them about the important role the continent played
in their parents' love story. In his July 2022 address to the United Nations General Assembly,
he spoke about the many ways Africa has impacted his life.
"It's where I've felt closest to my mother and sought solace after she died.
And where I knew I had found a soulmate in my wife."