Prince Harry is best known for being the Duke of Sussex, aside from the fact that he and his wife, Meghan Markle, made their royal departure in 2020. Harry is the youngest son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana. His older brother is Prince William.
Harry was born on Sept. 15, 1984, at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England. He faced heartache early on in life as his mother passed when he was 12 years old. And with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, 2022, many royal family members gathered to be together during this difficult time. Along with this came several new changes in the royal line for succession and new titles for several royal family members.
However, Harry has lived a life outside the family for quite some time now, as he and Meghan are raising their two children – Archie and Lilibet – in California in the United States. Although they had stepped down from their duties as senior royals the previous year, the year 2021 is when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the move to embark on their new life together.
Diana dealt with years of public criticism – something that Harry has dealt with himself, along with his wife. But like his late mother, Harry has become well known for sparking conversations about mental health. And while Harry has certainly had a very interesting life, previously unknown details surrounding his birth were released, giving royal fans a closer look into the Duke of Sussex’s life and the strenuous relationship he has with his father.
Following the release of the 2022 documentary “The Princess,” many people began drawing comparisons of the public perception and media attention between Diana with Meghan and Harry. After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex officially left the royal family and shared more in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, public scrutiny was at an all-time high.
Ed Perkins, director of “The Princess,” told PEOPLE that he felt the parallels as he worked on the documentary. “For a space of about a month or two, it seemed like (Harry and Meghan) were the only thing people were talking about,” he said. “Very few people were apathetic and it reminded me of the response I was seeing in the archive from 25, 30 years previously, where, for the entirety of Diana’s public life, we were dissecting everything.
Perkins added:
“People had strong polarized opinions all the way throughout her life and after her death, and it did feel interesting that there was a sort of similar national conversation happening 25 years later.”
Whenever a child is born in the royal family, it’s standard tradition for the parents to allow the public a quick peek at the newborn as they are leaving the hospital. These short occurrences have led to iconic images, from Diana and the king taking their sons William and Harry home to their sons taking their own children home.
According to Marie Claire, Diana and King Charles III posed with Harry the day after he was born and rushed to their car to get home. However, it appears that Charles was not with his family much afterward. The documentary “The Princess” revealed that the then-prince had decided to go play polo, as per Marie Claire.
A voiceover said:
“At the entrance to Kensington Palace, the prince and princess and their baby arrive from the hospital at speed, swept in without stopping. Then, less than an hour later, Prince Charles left to play polo – something most new fathers would hardly dare to suggest.”
A second person also spoke on how Charles acted as a husband to Diana and an early father to his two young sons. “He has always carried on ever since he got married as if he were a bachelor,” the commentator said. “He’s made absolutely – and he never did from the word ‘go’ – almost any concession to being a married man with the responsibilities of a wife and now two children.”
And according to The Guardian, Charles hadn’t gone to play polo alone. Camilla, the current Queen consort, watched him.
After Harry’s birth, the relationship between Diana and Charles forever changed. Royal biographer Andrew Morton included transcripts of a conversation he had with the late princess in his re-release of “Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words.”
According to Harper’s Bazaar, Diana said:
“Charles and I were very, very close to each other the six weeks before Harry was born, the closest we’ve ever, ever been and ever will be. Then, suddenly, as Harry was born, it just went bang, our marriage. The whole thing went down the drain.”
Charles infamously had an affair with Camilla while still married to Diana, leading to their very public divorce. The king married Camilla later on.
While Harry has had his ups and downs with his family, this information shows how strenuous his life was from the jump. Still, he has continued to weave in and out of the royal family and spread as positive a message as possible.
What do you think about the details surrounding Prince Harry’s birth? Were you surprised to find out how King Charles III reacted to his second son being born? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to any royal family fan you know.
