In spite of his seemingly charmed life, beloved
royal Prince Harry has experienced an undue
amount of misfortune over the years.
Some of the heartbreak was out of his control,
but some was pain of his own making.
Here's a look at some of the tragic parts
of Prince Harry's life.
On August 31st, 1997, injuries from a car
crash took the life of Prince Harry's mother,
Princess Diana.
Many factors are presumed to be involved in
the crash, including the speed of the driver.
The paparazzi was also involved in the crash,
photographers were chasing the car at the
time.
According to the Los Angeles Times, three
photographers were "symbolically" charged
one Euro for their part.
In the 2017 BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days,
Harry admitted,
"I think one of the hardest things to come
to terms with is the fact that the people
that chased her into the tunnel were the same
people that were taking photographs of her
while she was still dying on the backseat
of the car."
That year, he spoke to Newsweek about enduring
his mother's funeral, saying,
"My mother had just died, and I had to walk
a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by
thousands of people watching me while millions
more did on television.
I don't think any child should be asked to
do that, under any circumstances."
He only started speaking out about the effects
that losing his mother as a young royal has
had on his life as an adult.
About a year before Princess Diana's death,
she and Prince Charles finalized their divorce.
They were on civil terms by that time, according
to Express.
But the initial separation and majority of
Charles and Diana's 15-year union was full
of drama, including affairs on both sides,
public wars in the press, Diana's struggle
with bulimia, and Charles insisting that Queen
Elizabeth strip Diana of the royal part of
her title, as Newsweek reported.
At age 11, Prince Harry wasn't as aware of
the heartbreak within his parents' marriage
as Prince William, and his reaction reportedly
showed that.
A Vanity Fair royal correspondent revealed
in the documentary William and Harry: Brothers
in Arms,
"Harry took it very badly, of course being
younger than William, he was incredibly upset."
In the 2017 ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother:
Her Life and Legacy, Harry revealed one of
the worst parts of being a child of divorce,
saying,
"There was the point where our parents split
and...we never saw our mother enough or we
never saw our father enough.
There was all that to contend with.
I don't pretend we're the only people to have
to deal with that, but it was an interesting
way of growing up."
He remembers the journey between houses vividly,
saying,
"There was a lot of traveling and a lot of
fights on the back seat with my brother, which
I would win."
News of a rift between Prince Harry and Prince
William broke in late 2018.
An unnamed friend of the brothers told Vanity
Fair,
"Harry felt William wasn't rolling out the
red carpet for Meghan [Markle] and told him
so.
They had a bit of a fall out which was only
resolved when [Prince] Charles stepped in
and asked William to make an effort."
Eyes have since been on both couples.
After that period, Harry and William only
seemed to be together on holidays.
During family Easter in April 2019, People
reported that they, quote, "kept their distance
from one another."
Relations warmed in May 2019 when Harry and
Meghan's son Archie was born, but a royal
correspondent told Entertainment Tonight that
the brothers weren't speaking before his birth.
Tensions seemed high again in October 2019
when Harry admitted in the ITV documentary
Harry & Meghan: An African Journey that his
relationship with William wasn't perfect,
saying,
"This family being under the pressure that
it's under, inevitably stuff happens.
We're on different paths at the moment, but
I will always be there for him as I know he'll
always be there for me."
"As brothers, you know, you have good days,
you have bad days."
Since the admission, and the Sussexes' stepping
down from royal duties, it's been a rollercoaster
ride, but Harry reportedly began "leaning
on" William again after his relocation to
the U.S., according to US Weekly.
Since Prince Harry's relationship with Meghan
Markle became public, his relationship with
the press has become more contentious.
Harry released a statement in October 2019
announcing the couple's decision to sue several
tabloid publications, saying,
"For these select media this is a game, and
one that we have been unwilling to play from
the start.
I have been a silent witness to her private
suffering for too long.
To stand back and do nothing would be contrary
to everything we believe in."
Harry is reportedly suing "the owners of The
Sun and the Daily Mirror" for "illegal interception
of voicemail messages," according to The Guardian.
Meghan is separately suing Daily Mail for,
quote, "alleged breach of privacy and copyright
infringement over its decision to publish
a private letter she had sent to her estranged
father."
Harry's dislike for the press goes so deep
that he has reportedly been trying to change
the royal family's relationship with the press
since before his relationship with Meghan
became such an obsession.
The couple's plan goes beyond court battles.
Vanity Fair reports that they are, quote,
"on a mission to redefine how the press operates."
That includes putting press "embargo[s]" on
personal news like when their son Archie met
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and then sharing the
news on their Instagram account.
This has only added more tension to Prince
Harry and Meghan's relationship with the media.
Prince Harry's problems with the press are
deeper than any legal battle.
He's scared to lose his wife or child in an
accident like the one that took his mother's
life, and he made that explicitly clear in
the statement announcing the legal battle,
saying,
"My deepest fear is history repeating itself.
I've seen what happens when someone I love
is commoditized to the point that they are
no longer treated or seen as a real person.
I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling
victim to the same powerful forces.
There comes a point when the only thing to
do is to stand up to this behaviour because
it destroys people and destroys lives."
"I will not be bullied into playing a game
that killed my mum."
The toll that the media attention was taking
on the couple is evident in the film Harry
& Meghan: An African Journey.
The film's director called it the couple's
"biggest struggle, rightly or wrongly."
In the film, Megan admitted how difficult
it's been dealing with the press, even after
being warned about it.
"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."
Less than a year after the film aired, Harry
and Megan stepped down from royal duties and
moved to America.
Perhaps Meghan's friends were correct.
"I never thought that this would be easy,
but I thought it would be fair, and that's
the part that's really hard to reconcile."
Prince Harry may have a bigger fight on his
hands than tabloids where his in-laws are
concerned.
One of the reasons the Sussexes are suing
the press is for publishing a private letter
that Meghan sent to her father, Thomas Markle,
begging him to stop speaking to the press
and telling lies about her instead of speaking
to her personally.
According to The Sun, the letter reads,
"Your actions have broken my heart into a
million pieces."
Of course, Thomas also famously pulled out
of Harry and Meghan's wedding because of heart
surgery, or embarrassment over getting caught
colluding to sell the paparazzi photos related
to the wedding, according to TMZ.
The Telegraph claimed that the drama with
Thomas, quote, "reduced both Meghan and Harry
to tears."
Meghan's half sister Samantha Markle also
seems to thrive on attention from the press.
Even though she and Meghan reportedly don't
have a relationship, she's threatened to write
tell-all books about Meghan.
She's also famous for her Twitter rants attacking
Meghan's humanitarianism, and was suspended
from the platform in 2019.
According to The Sun, Samantha also once tweeted
that Harry should've married his ex-girlfriend
because, in Samantha's words,
"She is much more like Diana."
With family like that...who needs family?
Prince Harry has become more and more vocal
about the negative effects being a royal has
had on his mental health.
On The Telegraph's podcast Mad World, Harry
said that being in the spotlight, losing his
mother, serving in Afghanistan, and doing
charity work to help soldiers who experienced
trauma has negatively affected him.
He explained,
"Anybody would look at that and go, 'OK, there
must be something wrong with you, you can't
be totally normal.
I sort of buried my head in the sand for many,
many years."
Harry said he's been prone to "shutting down
all of [his] emotions" ever since his mother
passed.
He credits his brother Prince William with
urging him to talk about his feelings with
someone.
Harry added,
"If you stay silent, [mental health issues
are] more likely to kill you."
To normalize conversations about mental health
and help others get treatment in the UK, Harry
is an original founder of Heads Together with
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Harry said that unloading his feelings on
a professional therapist has made his weekends
more enjoyable.
He gave an example of the trauma he had been
holding inside in the ITV documentary Diana,
Our Mother, saying,
"The first time I cried was at the funeral
on the island, and...since then, maybe once.
There's a lot of grief that still needs to
be let out."
When Prince Harry stepped down from his royal
duties in March 2020, he also had to give
up three military titles: 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.
He's not permitted to hold these titles as
they constitute "official duties," according
to ITV.
Harry has taken great pride in serving his
country, his titles, and the work he's done
for veterans, particularly founding The Invictus
Games, which he will still run.
The Sun reported on the apparent sadness that
Harry emanated at his last military event.
He reportedly told the head of the Royal Marines,
"I am so proud to have served as the Royal
Marines Captain and am devastated that I am
having to step down...I feel I'm letting people
down, but I had no choice."
An insider reportedly claimed,
"[Serving in the military] creates a bond
which you'd suspect Meghan may struggle to
understand."
The role of Captain-General of the Royal Marines
might have been particularly hard for Harry
to let go of because he took the position
over from his grandfather, Prince Phillip,
who held the title for 64 years.
Prince Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth
II, has always had a special place in her
heart for him.
When Harry and Meghan Markle announced on
Instagram that they wanted to, quote, "carve
out a progressive new role" for themselves
within the royal family and step down as senior
members, they reportedly did so without consulting
Queen Elizabeth and other family members.
The queen and other senior members of the
royal family were reportedly "furious," according
to Vanity Fair, which reported that she was
particularly hurt because she had done all
she could to appease Harry and his wife since
their wedding in 2018.
An unnamed "confidant" of the Queen told the
outlet,
"He has dropped a bombshell and left the Queen
to pick up the pieces.
It has not been great for their relationship.
What was once a very warm and jokey grandmother
grandson rapport has dissipated."
Although Queen Elizabeth eventually issued
a rare and official statement about the personal
matter, in which she expressed support for
Harry and Megan's decision, it's tough to
imagine there isn't some lingering pain there.
As important as it is for Harry to protect
his family and keep them happy, there's something
heartbreaking about the erosion of the relationship
between the stoic queen and the jovial prince.
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