Moody - Harry: A Biography

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Michael OMara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard
Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Michael OMara Books Limited 2014

This electronic edition published in 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78243-037-7 in hardback print format
ISBN: 978-1-78243-172-5 in paperback print format
ISBN: 978-1-78243-042-1 in ebook format

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F or the past twenty-nine years, Prince Harry has been one of the most famous people in the country, and although at times controversial, he has attracted both criticism and praise. He has been to war, trekked in the Arctic and motorbiked across Africa. He has set up his own charities championing the wounded and the forgotten, represented his grandmother the Queen overseas, and won a humanitarian award. He also happens to have a liking for plunging into swimming pools fully clothed, jumping off things, climbing up things, and generally making sure he is in the middle of whatever is going on. And if theres nothing much going on, then he will make sure something is done about that. He grabs life with both hands and rides it at 100 miles an hour sometimes perilously close to the edge.

He sees himself as three different figures the soldier, the man and the prince equally at home on the battlefield or the polo field, in Englands green and pleasant land, or in the wilds of Africa. However, he has always felt less comfortable in his royal role, sometimes struggling with the constant attention it brings. His mother, Diana Princess of Wales, inspired such love and devotion from not just the people of the UK, but all around the world, that they felt as though they actually knew her. It was different from what previous supporters of the royal family had felt with their strong sense of pride, admiration and respect this was emotional. People were as fiercely protective, fond and invested in Diana as if she was family or a dear friend. In the same way, interest in her two sons was always going to be high. When William and Harry were born in the wake of what was billed as a fairy-tale wedding, it was a cause for countrywide celebration. People were also therefore fascinated to watch her boys grow up.

Almost from the beginning of the Prince and Princess of Waless marriage, public opinion about the couple was divided and people chose sides. If they liked Diana they may not have had a lot of fondness or sympathy for Charles, and vice versa. Prince Harry loves his father and loved his mother very much, and he has also grown to love his stepmother Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. So this book is written with that in mind, endeavouring to present a balanced portrait of each individual. All three are human beings with flaws and idiosyncrasies and, as with all of us, they have made mistakes over the years. None of them are perfect, but none of them are bad people.

William will one day be King, and so the main spotlight has always shone more squarely on him. However, Harry has never been one to stay in the shadows, and as he approaches his thirtieth birthday it seems a good time to look at the man behind the very famous name. The bold, colourful and interesting character who is known and loved around the world is one part of him, but his subtleties and nuances are perhaps less well known. As a very little boy, Harry was a sensitive, shy thumb-sucker who was prone to carsickness, while older brother William was the loud, outgoing, rough-and-tumble one. It wasnt long before they switched roles, and Harry became the hot-headed, outspoken sibling, while William has become more measured and diplomatic. There are still times now when the quieter, more vulnerable side of Harry shines through, and those moments certainly help to build a clearer picture of the man he has become.

I ts a boy! Three words excitedly shouted out by a television crewman, announced to the world the birth of the new royal baby. With that, the crowds outside the hospital cheered, and a motorist not looking where he was going drove into the side of an ambulance. It was not the most decorous of introductions for the new third in line to the throne, but it signified the excitement a new generation of royals was beginning to generate in the British public.

In 1984 Britain was still riding a wave of royal euphoria that had started four years earlier, when the Prince of Wales began his courtship of blushing kindergarten teacher Lady Diana Spencer, and a reticent star was born. The British public were immediately endeared to the shy and beautiful nineteen-year-old, and after just six months her engagement to the first in line to the throne was announced. After marrying in 1981, Charles and Diana welcomed their first son, Prince William, the following year, and their second son two years later at 4.20 p.m. on Saturday 15 September 1984. Although the newborns given name was Prince Henry Charles Albert David, it was announced that he would always be known as Harry. Diana later said, Royal first-borns may get all the glory, but second-borns enjoy more freedom. Only when Harry is a lot older will he realize how lucky he is not to have been the eldest.

On the morning of 15 September, the heavily pregnant but still a week away from her due date Princess Diana had stirred early in Windsor Castle, where she and Prince Charles were staying. Her second son may have been a week early, but he was ready. Outside, it was a misty early-autumn morning as Charles and Diana, accompanied by their bodyguard, left the castle at 6.30 a.m., drove the thirty minutes into London and checked into St Marys Hospital, Paddington. It was a familiar drill, as they were once again based in the private Lindo Wing, where Diana had given birth to William, making their older son the first heir to the throne to be born in hospital. Charles had been born in the Belgian Suite of Buckingham Palace, while before him all other royals had also been born at home. However, Diana showed signs of things to come when she pushed to modernize the tradition, and insisted on giving birth in a hospital. This time, with Harry, it was no different, and once more the attending gynaecologist was Mr George Pinker, who was at the time the Queens surgeon-gynaecologist and a senior consultant at St Marys.

Charles and Diana arrived at the Lindo Wing at 7.30 a.m., and outside the hospital as the day progressed 300 press and onlookers jostled behind a double row of police barriers. Inside, however, all was surprisingly calm. Diana read a book for the first six hours of labour, and took no drugs, as Charles, dressed in a hospital gown, dozed in a chair next to her. At times he fed her ice cubes as a nurse administered lip balm, and then when the grey sky darkened, their second son finally made his entrance at 4.20 p.m. blue-eyed, russet-haired and weighing 6lb 14oz. The room was jubilant, and one hospital worker revealed that when he visited the suite everyone was laughing.

While two forty-one-gun salutes cracked the air one in Hyde Park and the second simultaneously from the Tower of London a town cryer in plumed hat called out Her Royal Highness the Princess Diana has issued forth a second son! However, it turned out that this particular individual had no official role, and had been hired by a Japanese television company.