Prince Harry at 40: The Duke’s life in photos from young boy to doting dad to Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet

Charles and Diana welcomed their second son, Prince Harry, at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital Paddington on 15 September 1982. 

William and Harry grew up at Kensington Palace in London, with the family residing in Apartment 8 and 9. How sweet is this snap of Charles and his young sons?

Harry gazes at the camera as he rides his rocking horse in his playroom at Kensington Palace in 1985. 

The family split their time between London and Charles’ Gloucestershire home, Highgrove, which afforded them more privacy. Diana is seen carrying a young Harry on her shoulders in the gardens in 1986. 

Little Harry looked enthusiastic on his first day at Mrs Mynors nursery school in London. 

Cuddles with mum as they enjoyed a family holiday in Majorca in 1986. 

Harry joined big brother William at Wetherby School in Notting Hill, London in 1989. 

One of Harry’s earliest official overseas visits was to Canada in 1991. Diana took her sons William and Harry on a boat trip to see Niagara Falls.

Charles and Diana had separated by 1992 and both William and Harry were both boarding at Ludgrove School in Berkshire by 1994. 

This photo was taken during the royal family’s annual summer break at Balmoral in August 1997 – just weeks before Diana’s tragic death in a car crash in Paris. 

Harry followed in his big brother’s footsteps and passed the entrance exams for Eton College, enrolling in 1998. 

In his memoir, Spare, Harry says he threw himself into sport at the Windsor-based private school. 

“Sport, I decided, would be my thing at Eton,” he wrote. “Sporty boys were separated into two groups: dry bobs and wet bobs. Dry bobs played cricket, football, rugby, or polo. Wet bobs rowed, sailed, or swam.” 

He added: “I played every dry sport, though rugby captured my heart. Beautiful game, plus a good excuse to run into stuff very hard. Rugby let me indulge my rage. I simply didn’t feel pain the way other boys did, which made me scary on a pitch.” 

Harry left Eton College in 2003 with two A-Levels in Art and Geography.  

After leaving Eton College, Harry decided to take a gap year, where he spent time in Australia and Lesotho in southern Africa, an experience which later inspired him to set up his own charity, Sentebale. 

Charles, William and Harry often enjoyed winter ski trips together in Klosters, Switzerland when they were growing up and as young adults. 

Harry began his training as an Officer Cadet in 2005. Upon completion in April 2006, Harry was commissioned as a Army officer in the Blues and Royals. His proud grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, attended his passing-out parade.  

Harry began dating Zimbabwe-born Chelsy Davy in 2004 and the pair were in on-again, off-again relationship until 2011. 

Harry appeared as his brother’s best man at William’s wedding to Kate Middleton on 29 April 2011. 

The Duke later wrote in his book, Spare: “The public had been told that I was to be best man, but that was a bare-faced lie. The public expected me to be best man, and thus the Palace saw no choice but to say that I was.”

Harry claims that William chose two best men in his close-knit circle – James Meade and Thomas Van Straubenzee. 

Harry completed two tours of Afghanistan as a forward air controller and an Apache helicopter pilot, in 2007 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2013. He served for ten years in the military, rising to the rank of Captain.

Before leaving the Army in 2015, Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2014 – an international adaptive multi-sport event in which wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and veterans participate.

He had been inspired by a trip to the US in 2013, where he watched the Warrior Games. 

The first event took place in London and since then has been held in Orlando in 2016, Toronto in 2017, Sydney in 2018, The Hague in 2022 and Dusseldorf in 2023.

Harry began dating American actress Meghan Markle in summer 2016 after being introduced by a mutual friend. They made their public debut together at the Invictus Games Toronto 2017. 

Harry and Meghan’s engagement was announced on 27 November 2017. The Prince proposed in the garden of his Kensington Palace home, Nottingham Cottage, with a ring consisting of a large central diamond from Botswana with two smaller diamonds from his mother Diana’s jewellery collection.

Harry and Meghan tied the knot on 19 May 2018 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The late Queen made the couple the Duke and Duchess of Sussex upon their marriage. 

As the couple touched down for their first major royal tour of Australia in October 2018, the palace announced that they were expecting their first child. 

On 6 May 2019, Harry and Meghan welcomed their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor at the Portland Hospital in London, with the proud new father giving a TV interview hours after the birth. The tot was introduced to the world at Windsor Castle two days later. Since their grandfather King Charles’ accession to the throne, Archie and his sister Lilibet, are known as Prince and Princess of Sussex. 

Harry and Meghan’s daughter, Lilibet Diana, was born on 4 June 2021 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. 

The Duke of Sussex marked the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games in May 2024 during a special service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, where he was supported by Diana’s siblings. The international multi-sport event for wounded and injured servicemen and women was set up by Harry in 2014 with the aim to change lives through sport.