Prince Harry ‘plagued by tough million-dollar question’ as he enters new decade
Prince Harry has turned 40 with his life in California worlds away from the one he led 10 years ago on his landmark 30th birthday - and royal experts have one question for the Duke of Sussex after his big day...
From dog walks on the beach under the Californian sun to rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite at cosy parties – life for Prince Harry couldn’t be more different compared to 10 years ago.
As he prepared to turn 30, he had just finished his military service, launched his highly successful Invictus Games with the inaugural event in London and was firmly inside the royal bubble as a working member of the Firm.
Fast forward a decade to today, the Duke of Sussex has turned 40 in a set of highly different circumstances having quit royal life and swapped it for a very different one in the United States with his wife Meghan Markle, along with their two children Prince Archie, five, and three-year-old Princess Lilibet.
But that’s not to say things are all rosy – his relationships with his father King Charles and brother Prince William are said to be at breaking point caused by a huge royal rift fuelled by Harry railing against his family in his bombshell Netflix series and controversial memoir. However, some might see their decision to send him public birthday wishes as an olive branch.
But with these huge changes to his life, both positive and more tumultuous, in the past 10 years, many might ask if Harry is happy at 40. And according to royal expert and historian Dr Tessa Dunlop, it is the “million-dollar question”. She told the Mirror: “He is certainly rich (more money has just poured into his coffers from the late Queen Mother), and with the Sussexes’ unique blend of Californian-royalty, he is stratospherically famous.
“But ‘happy’ is much harder to quantify. Certainly at 40 Harry’s world is miles away from his royal bubble of ten years ago. Then, he was the product of two very British institutions – the army and the monarchy. Nowadays, dog walks on Californian sand and casual dinners in a local Italian with a new set of Montecito friends, have replaced the predictable royal churn of Balmoral, Sandringham, King and Country.
“But, if you look for it, there is continuity. Ten years ago, Harry celebrated his 30th birthday with the launch of the Invictus Games. He had found his calling: later writing: ‘I was caught off guard by this wave of appreciation and gratitude. And joy.’
“Service, then and now, makes Harry happy. The big difference is ten years ago Harry had his Dad by his side. ‘Well done, darling boy’ was Charles’s response to Harry’s first Invictus performance. Nowadays, the Prince is a seasoned performer, but I suspect he’d be far happier if his father was still cheering him from the sidelines. A landmark birthday is always a good place to start. Fingers crossed the King found the time to reach out to his son, yesterday of all days.”
