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Is Prince Harry the Son of King Charles? The Duke of Sussex’s Relationship to the Royal Family Explained
Prince Harry has earned a reputation as the free-spirited member of the royal family, but how is he related to the royals? Keep scrolling to find out if Harry is King Charles’ son, learn about their relationship and more.
Is Prince Harry the Son of King Charles?
Harry is the second son of King Charles and Princess Diana.
After the pair tied the knot in 1981, they welcomed their first child, son Prince William, in 1982. Their family continued to grow when Diana gave birth to Harry in 1984.
Charles and Diana had a tumultuous marriage and ultimately divorced in 1996.
Do Prince Harry and King Charles Get Along?
While it’s no secret that Harry has a tense relationship with his brother, the Duke of Sussex has also been open about his problems with Charles in the past.
In his 2023 memoir, Spare, Harry recalled a joke that Charles made about not being his real father. He made the comment amid rumors that Diana‘s former lover Major James Hewitt was Harry’s biological father.
“‘Who knows if I’m even your real father? Maybe your real father is in Broadmoor, darling boy!’” he wrote in the memoir. “He’d laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke.”
Also in the book, Harry claimed that Charles said there wasn’t “enough money to go around” to support him and his wife, Meghan Markle, as they considered stepping down from their royal duties.
“Pa didn’t financially support Willy and me, and our families, out of any largesse,” the father of two wrote. “That was his job. That was the whole deal. We agreed to serve the monarch, go wherever we were sent, do whatever we were told, surrender our autonomy, keep our hands and feet inside the gilded cage at all times, and in exchange the keepers of the cage agreed to feed and clothe us.”
Harry noted that his father did briefly support the couple with private funds when they stepped away from their royal duties in 2020, though he said that their conflict was never about the money.
“Pa might have dreaded the rising cost of maintaining us, but what he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him,” the former military pilot said. “He’d lived through that before, and had no interest in living through it again.”
Will Prince Harry Ever Become King?
While Harry is the King of England’s son, he likely will never take on the title himself. According to the line of succession determined by Buckingham Palace, William is next in line to take the throne because he is Charles and Diana’s first born child.
Following William’s reign, his children with his wife, Princess Kate, will be next in line. Their eldest son, Prince George, will be the next king, while Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis follow behind in the line of succession.
Harry will only be eligible to become king after his nephews and niece, so he likely won’t ever take the throne.
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