Penny Junor - Prince Harry: brother, soldier, son

It was May 2013 and Prince Harry was in Harlem, holding a baseball bat in his hand. He had never played the game before. The New York Yankees first base star, Mark Teixeira, was about to pitch. The worlds media were watching from the sidelines. And a little girl, dressed in body armor and face grille, was standing stoically behind the plate ready to catch. Harry ignored the flashing cameras, he ignored Mark Teixeira, and he put his own nerves to one side. He squatted down beside the little girl and peered through her grille and said, Are you all right in there?

Harry has many strengthsand his fair share of weaknessesbut his passion for childrens welfare and his empathy with those who have suffered during their childhood is what ultimately defines the man. Perhaps because he too suffered as a child.

Prince Harry is never going to be King. Unless the unthinkable happens, the Queen will be succeeded by his father, the Prince of Wales, who in turn will be succeeded by Prince William, and in another half century or so, Prince George. And it is generally agreed, by those who know Harry, that this is a good thing. If it were the other way round, if he was in line for the top job and not his brother, then we would all be in big trouble. It is always said with an affectionate laugh, because people love Harry, but Dianas younger son, who turned thirty in September 2014, has always had a wild, unpredictable streak to him, even as a little boy, but a future King cant afford to be caught playing strip billiards in a Las Vegas hotel bedroom, no matter what the circumstances.

But hes not going to be King and, as fourth in line, and arguably the most charming and down-to-earth member of the entire family, he can afford a little slack. At least while he is young and single. Indeed, it is his Las Vegas moments as much as anythinghis knack of getting into troublethat appear to endear him to the public. They make him seem a little more like the rest of us.

His detractors say they just prove hes not very bright. His detractors need to think again. Anyone who thinks Harry is not bright seriously underestimates the man. He may not be academic, but he has emotional intelligence coming out of every pore. He was also one of the best Apache attack helicopter co-pilot gunners in the British Army Air Corps, and that is no mean feat. His ability to think on his feet, to think laterally, and make life-or-death decisions under the most stressful circumstances would leave most academics in the shade.

There was a time, granted, when it did look as though Harry wasnt too bright. A time when he behaved like a mindless Hooray Henry with too much money, too much privilege and no self-control. A time when one wondered whether his mothers death and the chaos of his childhood had set him on a dangerous downward spiral. Theres no doubt he was an angry adolescent, who drank a great deal more than was good for him. Even as an adult he does like to party, and theres no pretending that when Harry goes on a bender he does it in short measures. But the flip side of Harry that has emerged in the last few years is very different. And that flip side could be life changing for thousands of forgotten and disadvantaged people, not just in Britain, but across the world.

He is the Queens grandson, a senior member of the most important family in the land; he lives in palaces, plays expensive sports, drinks in exclusive clubs and holidays in exotic locations. He has a private fortune, beautiful girlfriends and wants for nothing. On the face of it, everything about him should repel the tough inner-city kid with a knife in his pocket and no qualms about using it. Yet he has taken a close interest in the escalation of knife crime in Britains cities and through the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry has funded youth projects, and those kids like him. Because they can see that if you strip away Harrys titles and the privilege, underneath it all hes someone like them, who had a rotten childhood and a broken homeand a dad who was often absent. Like them, he gets into trouble and he knows how to fight; he understands violence. The difference between them is that Harry had people in his life who were there for him, so his fighting has been in Afghanistan and its been internationally condoned. These kids with knives at the ready werent so lucky. They had no one to pick up the pieces, so they gravitated towards gangs and the streets and a very different sort of violence. But fundamentally, theres a connection. And Harry has that connection with all sorts of disparate groups. He wears the right clothes for the occasion and, with a witty remark or a gentle tease, he immediately connects with people of every age, every class, every gender and from every walk of life. Like his mother, he is tactile, hes relaxed, hes fun and hes not afraid to show his humanity. Its a rare gift.

He hates special treatment, hates the cameras that follow him and hates much of what goes with being a member of the Royal Family. He is fiercely and rightly jealous of his privacy. But he accepts who he is and the responsibility that goes with it. His future is not as easily defined as his brothers, but after years of observing his parents and grandparents, he is inculcated with a sense of duty and service to others that most of uslet alone most thirty-year-oldscould not begin to comprehend.