Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018, at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, upon which they were granted the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their wedding brought together British royal tradition with elements of African American culture, featuring an address by Bishop Michael Bruce Curry and a gospel choir performance.

The couple has two children: a son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, born on May 6, 2019, and a daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, born on June 4, 2021. Their daughter's name honors both Prince Harry's mother, Diana, and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, whose family nickname was Lilibet.

Prince Harry was born Henry Charles Albert David at St. Mary's Hospital in London on September 15, 1984. His mother, Princess Diana, sought to provide Harry and his elder brother, Prince William, with ordinary childhood experiences outside the royal sphere, taking them on public transit, to fast food restaurants, and on visits to homeless shelters and hospitals. Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when Harry was 12 years old, leading to the widely remembered image of the young prince walking behind her funeral procession in London.

Harry attended Mrs. Mynors' Nursery School and Wetherby School before entering Eton College in 1998, graduating in 2003. During a subsequent gap year, he worked on a cattle station in the Australian Outback and volunteered at an orphanage in Lesotho aiding children affected by HIV and AIDS.

In May 2005, Harry enrolled at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, earning his commission as an army officer in April 2006. He joined the Blues and Royals unit of the Household Cavalry Regiment and trained as a tank commander. In late 2007, he deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, serving as a forward air controller until foreign media reports compromised operational secrecy and forced an early withdrawal in February 2008.

Following his initial deployment, Harry qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot with the British Army Air Corps. He returned to Afghanistan for a twenty-week deployment in 2012-2013 as a helicopter copilot and gunner. He completed ten years of full-time military service, retiring with the rank of captain in 2015.

In 2006, Harry teamed with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to establish Sentebale, a charitable foundation dedicated to supporting vulnerable children and youth affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana. Harry also became deeply involved with veteran rehabilitation, taking part in Walking with the Wounded treks to the South Pole in 2013 and across Britain in 2015.

After attending the Warrior Games in the United States, Harry established the Invictus Games Foundation, launching the inaugural international adaptive sports tournament for wounded, injured, and sick armed services personnel in London in 2014. Together with Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, he also led the Heads Together mental health initiative, speaking openly about his own experiences with grief and therapy.

In January 2020, Harry and Meghan announced their plan to step back from their positions as senior working royals to achieve financial independence and split their time between North America and the United Kingdom. Negotiations with the palace culminated in their permanent resignation from official royal roles in early 2021, leading to the relinquishment of Harry's honorary military appointments and royal patronages.

After relocating to California, the couple established the Archewell Foundation for charitable programming and Archewell Productions for television and film creation under a production agreement with Netflix. In December 2022, Netflix released the documentary series Harry & Meghan, which examined their courtship and decision to leave royal duties. In January 2023, Harry published his memoir Spare, detailing his upbringing, personal grief, military tours, and tensions within the royal family; the volume became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in publishing history, selling more than 1.4 million copies on its first day.

Beginning in 2019, Harry initiated multiple legal actions against major British newspaper publishers, accusing them of unlawful information gathering and phone hacking dating back to the 1990s. In 2023, he testified in person against Mirror Group Newspapers and won substantial damages. News Group Newspapers settled claims involving The Sun in 2025, providing a formal apology.

Harry also pursued litigation against the British Home Office regarding the reduction of his publicly funded police security following his departure from official royal service. His legal challenges to have standard automatic state protection reinstated were dismissed in British courts in 2024.