Some people dread the Big 40, but Prince Harry, as we’re told, doesn’t. He’s looking forward to this new decade.
This may not be surprising given the turmoil of the past few years, but it’s worth remembering that some of his 30s were pretty outstanding.
I interviewed Harry in May 2015, when he was just 30, as he was preparing for retirement in New Zealand. It was one of those pinch-yourself interviews. I hadn’t spent that much time with him at that point, but he really opened up to me. He told me about his dreams of finding someone to settle down with and that he “want kids right now.”
These were dreams that would come true over the next four years. We saw the excitement of his wedding to Meghan Markle at Windsor, people talked about the “New Fab Four” when Prince William and Kate started dating, and we had a royal baby to celebrate when Archie was born.
His Invictus Games were a huge success, as was Sentebale for AIDS charity. In his mid-30s, Prince Harry seemed to have found the perfect love interest who would make the royal family feel truly important on the international stage.
When the fairy tale fell apart and he and Meghan moved to America, what happened next filled millions of column inches around the world. No one can predict how far Prince Harry will go in his books and TV shows, and his relationship with the royal family remains in turmoil.
It has been an incredibly painful year. Some in the palace hoped that King Charles’ cancer diagnosis would turn things around, but Harry’s anger and fear over security on his way into the UK seems to remain a sticking point.
On Friday, when I asked Kensington Palace if they had anything to say about his birthday, I was told “no.”
Buckingham Palace also had nothing to say, but appeared to be leaving the door open for a general entrance of sorts.
Prince Harry’s next major public appearance is just a week away, when he will be in New York to meet with the Diana Award team and young people to discuss mental health issues among his generation.
The firm’s managing director, Tessie Ojo, who has worked with Harry and William for the past 24 years, said it was a milestone for Harry and represented a “moment of opportunity and forward momentum at a stage in his life where his experiences, values and goals are more closely aligned than ever before.”
The next decade will be crucial, she said. “Because it offers him the opportunity to further solidify his role as a global change agent, not only in terms of philanthropy but also in the way he brings new approaches to developed social impact.”
This new chapter will reflect a deeper commitment to creating a world that is “focused on the next generation, a world where children and young people, regardless of where they are born, can thrive in a society that is grounded in justice, mental health, and opportunity for all,” she added.
People often talk about the disappearance of old Harry. The boy was a man who loved to laugh.
He is still well known today, and there is no denying how talented he was with children, especially for his antics at Invictus military events and his work with Scotty’s Little Soldiers and Wellchild.
When I heard he was planning a weekend with some close friends for his birthday, I must admit that I was immediately reminded of that infamous Las Vegas trip in my twenties.
But most people, at some point, realise they have to grow up – and Harry has had to do so a lot recently, without anyone to blame – his father or his brothers.
And of course without his mother, Princess Diana, who died when he was very young.
There was a conversation he had before he met Meghan that has always stayed with me. We had a discussion about whether he was planning to leave London, or even leave the UK.
It was clear that he had thought about it deeply, but at the time it was his support for his grandmother, the Queen, that kept him feeling close.
We know now that he’s going to take a leap of faith, and this will be a big decade. A decade in which we’ll really see what life outside the royal fold will be like in the long run for Prince Harry and his young family, and whether a reconciliation will occur.
