CELEBRITY
When Prince Harry was five! How the royal was pageboy at uncle’s wedding just two days after his fifth birthday and had only just started prep school
As Prince Archie turns five today, he will likely be celebrating the milestone with his parents Harry and Meghan at their California mansion.
But the young royal’s special day might bring back memories for the Duke of Sussex, 39.
On September 15, 1989, Prince Harry turned five just days after starting at Wetherby pre-prep school in Notting Hill, West London.
Two days after his fifth birthday, Harry was a page boy at the wedding of his uncle Earl Spencer, who was marrying Victoria Lockwood, his first wife.
When he was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, Harry weighed 6lbs 14oz – less than Archie, who was 7lb 3oz.
Although he was born in Britain, Archie by contrast has grown up in America after his and Meghan’s decision to step back as working royals.
But Harry’s early years were spent at Kensington Palace with his parents Charles and Diana and brother Prince William, who is just over two years older than him.
Pictures of Harry at five show him in his grey prep school uniform, on holiday with William and the Princess of Wales in the Caribbean and peering out of the window of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour.
Another image shows him and William joining their father at a polo match.
At his uncle’s wedding, he was seen with his cousin Alexander Fellowes dressed in an outfit based on Joshua Reynolds’ portrait of the third Earl Spencer.
That meant a cream silk shirt edged with gold, breeches and a burgundy sash for the high society nuptials at Althorp, the Spencer family’s estate in Northamptonshire.
As a five-year-old, Harry also enjoyed a visit to the headquarters of the Life Guards at Royal Windsor Barracks.
He was seen climbing on top of a tank whilst wearing his own miniature uniform and beret.
Harry, who was born Prince Henry Charles Albert David, made his public debut outside the Lindo Wing.
He was shown to the world while snuggled in his mother’s arms in a blanket.
A crowd of more than 1,000 cheered as Diana and Charles – then the Prince of Wales – waved before heading back to Kensington Palace.
Less than an hour after ensuring his wife and baby son were safely home, Charles slipped away for a game of polo in Windsor.
He said at the time: ‘William has taken to the new baby like a duck to water. It’s worth a guinea a minute watching him enjoy himself with the baby.
‘He’s been climbing in and out of his cot.’
However, Harry’s birth was was followed by the breakdown in his parents’ marriage.