Mahfouz had met Harry in 2013 and 2014 and donated £50,000 to his charity Sentebale and £10,000 to Walking With The Wounded, of which Harry is patron. The pictures were leaked by American celebrity website TMZ on 21 August 2012, and reported worldwide by mainstream media on 22 August 2012. While on holiday in Las Vegas in August 2012, Harry and an unknown young woman were photographed naked in a Wynn Las Vegas hotel room, reportedly during a game of strip billiards. Subsequently, it was reported that the military had instructed Harry to attend a diversity course. It also criticised all sides for allowing the conflict “to play out publicly” and cited poor internal governance and a “failure to resolve disputes internally” as factors that impacted the charity’s reputation. In March 2025, Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho resigned from their roles as patrons of Sentebale following a dispute between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board, Sophie Chandauka.
- The memoir is reportedly the first of a four-book publishing deal that is set to include a second book by Harry and a wellness guide by Meghan.
- Chandauka reported the charity to the Charity Commission due to what she described as “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir – and the coverup that ensued”.
- In July 2021, it was announced that Harry was set to publish his memoir Spare via Penguin Random House, with Harry reportedly earning an advance of at least $20 million.
- The couple stepped back from their senior royal duties in 2020 and now live in California.
- It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”
- Harry and his brother William descend matrilineally from Eliza Kewark (18th-century), who is variously described in contemporary documents as “a dark-skinned native woman”, “an Armenian woman from Bombay”, and “Mrs. Forbesian”.
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Like his brother and father, he has participated in polo matches to raise money for charitable causes. In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Harry voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the “Every Mind Matters” mental health program. To raise awareness for HIV testing, Harry took a test live on the royal family Facebook page on 14 July 2016. Harry announced that $1.5 million of the proceeds from the memoir were pledged to the charity Sentebale, while £300,000 would be given to WellChild. In July 2021, it was announced that Harry was set to publish his memoir Spare via Penguin Random House, with Harry reportedly earning an advance of at least $20 million.
In January 2020, lawyers issued a legal warning to the press after paparazzi photographs were published in the media. The BBC wrote to Kensington Palace apologising for the “factual inaccuracy” as George’s godfather was William van Cutsem, but it did not apologise for the comment itself as it was part of the show’s “irreverent humor”. Mr Justice Fancourt concluded Piers Morgan and other editors knew about the phone hacking at their publications and were involved in it. In June 2023, Harry testified in the court case accusing former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan of horrific personal attacks and claimed that his phone had been hacked dating back to when he was still at Eton. At the beginning of trial, MGN apologised for one instance of unlawful information gathering against Harry and added that his legal challenge “warrants compensation”. In January 2025, the two parties settled with NGN paying more than £10 million in pay outs and legal fees in the settlements involving both Harry and former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson.
He lost the legal challenge in May 2023, meaning that he will not be allowed to make private payments for police protection. In February 2023, a High Court judge ruled that the second case should be thrown out; however, the decision was later appealed by Harry’s legal team. Harry filed a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police in August 2022, challenging the decision by RAVEC from January 2022 which stated that State security could not be made available to private individuals even if they wished to pay for it themselves. Mr Justice Swift also reacted to the Duke’s legal team sending a copy of the ruling to someone who was not a lawyer, describing it as “entirely unacceptable”.
The brothers also received the original lyrics and score of “Candle in the Wind”, by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, as performed by John at Diana’s funeral. Harry and his brother William inherited the “bulk” of the £12.9 million left by their mother on their respective 30th birthdays, a figure that had grown since her 1997 death to £10 million each in 2014. His mother died in a car crash in Paris the following year while he and William were staying with their father at Balmoral Castle.
Military ranks
The commission later concluded that the foundation did not act unlawfully, but criticised the board of directors for expending a “substantial proportion of funds” to setting up and closing the charity. In July 2019, Harry and Meghan’s new charity was registered in England and Wales under the title “Sussex Royal The Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex”. Nevertheless, the couple would collaborate with Harry’s brother and his wife on mutual projects, such as the mental health initiative Heads Together. In his statement, he lent his support to the charity by arguing that its role in bringing sport into the life of disadvantaged people would save “hundreds of millions of pounds” towards treating the issues among young people.
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In October 2008, it was announced that Harry would follow his brother, father and uncle in learning to fly military helicopters. As was the case with his brother, the royal family and the tabloid press agreed Harry would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for occasional photograph opportunities in what became known as the “pressure cooker agreement”. It did, however, see Harry follow in his elder brother’s footsteps and the Spencer family’s, as both his mother’s father and her brother attended Eton. Harry, who recently lost a legal battle with the British government over his security, said in May that he wanted to repair his family relationships despite past emotional tensions.
News Group and Mirror Group newspapers
In January 2022, the couple mutually filed a legal complaint against The Times for an article reporting on Archewell raising less than $50,000 in 2020. A September 2020 article by The Times claiming an Invictus Games fundraiser had been cancelled due to its affiliation with a competitor of Netflix, Harry’s business partner, became the subject of a legal complaint issued by the Duke. News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, emphasised that they had done nothing “unlawful” in sourcing the stories and no illegal payments were made. It was alleged that the Sun had made two payments amounting to £4,000 to the partner of a royal official in relation to stories published in June and July 2019 which detailed the nannying and god-parenting arrangements for Harry and Meghan’s son Archie. In April 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they would no longer cooperate with the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Mirror and the Express. The case was settled later that year with Splash UK agreeing to no longer take unauthorised photos of the family.
- In March 2021, it was reported that the Charity Commission for England and Wales was conducting a review of the Sussex Royal organisation in a “regulatory and compliance case” regarding its conduct under charity law during dissolution.
- On 18 September 2012, it was reported that Harry had been moved to a safe location after an attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion that killed two US marines.
- In July 2018, the Elton John AIDS Foundation announced that the Duke of Sussex and British singer Elton John were about to launch a global coalition called MenStar that would focus “on treating HIV infections in men”.
- During the interview, Harry criticised his father’s parenting style, mentioned his father did not answer his calls and had cut him off financially, and he had no relationship with his brother.
- The BBC wrote to Kensington Palace apologising for the “factual inaccuracy” as George’s godfather was William van Cutsem, but it did not apologise for the comment itself as it was part of the show’s “irreverent humor”.
Harry’s paternal grandmother, Elizabeth II, issued letters patent on 8 February 1960 declaring his father to be a member of the House of Windsor. In July 2021, Harry and Meghan were among people who were selected by UK-based charity Population Matters to receive the Change Champions Award for their decision to have only two children and help with maintaining a smaller and more sustainable population. In December 2010, the German charity Ein Herz für Kinder (“A Heart for Children”) awarded him its Golden Heart Award, in recognition of his “charitable and humanitarian efforts”. While on his gap year in Lesotho in 2003, Harry was given the nickname Mohale (transl. ’the warrior’), a name that belonged to the younger brother of Moshoeshoe I.
Harry withdrew the libel claim in January 2024 and became liable for the publisher’s £250,000 legal costs. The prince’s lawyer said the “substantial damages” paid by the publisher would be donated to the Invictus Games Foundation. However, his popularity fell after stepping back from royal duties, and it plummeted after the release of his controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey, his Netflix docuseries, and his memoir. After his marriage, Harry’s popularity skyrocketed above all the other royals as he was deemed likable by 77 per cent of respondents in a poll of 3,600 Britons conducted by statistics and polling company YouGov. Harry received backlash again in August 2021 and 2022 for taking a two-hour flight on private jets between California and Aspen, Colorado, to participate in an annual charity polo tournament. In view of their environmental activism, Harry and Meghan were criticised in August 2019 for reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days, including one to Elton John’s home in Nice, France.
In June 2019, the Duke was present at the launch of Made by Sport, a charity coalition set to raise money to boost sport in disadvantaged communities. In 2012 Harry launched Coach Core alongside his brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. He had served as the RFU’s vice-royal patron since 2010, supporting the Queen as patron. In September 2025, Harry announced that he had personally donated £1.1 million to BBC Children in Need in December 2024, describing it as a “significant investment” in grassroots organisations in Nottingham supporting young people affected by violence. In April 2017, he hosted the Landmine Free 2025 reception at Kensington Palace, during which the UK government announced an increase in its financial support for de-mining efforts.
They gave up the lease after photos of the house and its interior were published by a paparazzi agency. In May 2018, it was reported that they had signed a two-year lease on WestfieldLarge, located on the Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds. However, this earlier exchange of vows was harry casino not an official religious or legally recognised marriage. In early 2009, it was reported the pair had parted ways after a relationship that had lasted for five years. On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that an agreement had been reached for Harry “to step back from Royal duties, including official military appointments”. On 19 December 2017, he succeeded his grandfather Prince Philip as the Captain General Royal Marines.
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Diana wanted her sons to have a broader range of experiences and a better understanding of ordinary life than previous royal children. Harry and his elder brother, William, were raised at Kensington Palace in London, and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan’s native Southern California, and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit business organisations.
