Prince Harry - Military Career
Prince Harry currently holds the rank of Second Lieutenant (or Cornet) in the British Army and serves with the
Blues and Royals which is part of The Household Cavalry.
September 2004 The Regular Comissions Board or RCB which is the qualification required to train at Sandhurst, was obtained by the Prince. The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is the Army's Officer training facility based in Camberley, Surrey in the UK. The RCB enables senior Army assessors to find those who are best suited for training and consists of a very demanding series of tests designed to analyse the emotional, mental and physical aptitude of the candidate.
May 2005 Prince Harry began his Officer Cadet training at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The training lasted for 44 weeks and during his time there he was known as Officer Cadet Wales.
July 2005 Prince Harry now also attends ceremonial military occasions. He accompanied The Queen and various members of the Royal Family to the National Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
January 2006 An announcement was made by Clarence House, stating that The Prince was to join the Blues and Royals.
April 2006 Prince Harry was commissioned as an Army officer, after successfully completing his training course. The Queen took the salute at the Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst. The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince or Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall were also present to see Prince Harry's Passing Out. Prince William was also in attendance as an Officer Cadet.
May 2006
Prince Harry joined his regiment. Shortly afterwards, he reported to The Armour Centre at Bovington,
Dorset, to begin his special-to-arm training to become an armoured reconnaissance troop leader.
This second stage of his preparatory training is the Troop Leaders' Course and includes instruction in signals, driving and maintenance,
and gunnery.
August 2006 The Queen appointed new Royal Commodores of various Royal Navy Commands in recognition of the strong links between the Royal Navy and the Royal Family. Prince Harry was appointed Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving.
October 2006 The Prince completed the Troop Leaders' Course and rejoined his regiment in Windsor. He is responsible for 11 soldiers and 4 Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles.
May 2007
The Ministry of Defence made a decision regarding Prince Harry's deployment to Iraq. The whole story can be read
here.
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Prince Harry - Charities & Patronages
Although Prince Harry is currently focusing on his military career he wants to show his support for a few organisations that reflect issues
he cares about both in the UK and abroad.
Prince Harry is Patron of four charities:
Dolen Cymru has been working for over 20 years to promote friendship and understanding between the people of Wales and her twinned nation of Lesotho, in southern Africa.
The Prince is Dolen Cymru's first Royal Patron, building on Prince Harry's current involvement in Lesotho with his own charity Sentebale.
Also working with an international focus, MapAction helps aid agencies by providing crucial situational mapping in the event of natural and humanitarian disasters.
MapAction teams have worked all over the world, including in Lesotho and in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami in 2005. Prince Harry became Patron of MapAction in March 2007.
In March 2007, Prince Harry also became the first Royal Patron of WellChild, the only UK charity caring for the individual needs of all sick children in the UK. WellChild is celebrating its 30th birthday this year.
In 2006, Prince Harry founded Sentebale, a charity to help orphans in Lesotho.
Prince Harry has visited Lesotho, a small African nation in the south of Africa, several times and was moved by the plight of children orphaned by the Aids pandemic which has devastated the country.
Together with his great friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, the younger brother of King Letsie III, Prince Harry set up Sentebale to offer long-term support to community organisations working with children and young people, and in particular to those working with orphans. Sentebale is a word that people in Lesotho use when they say good-bye to each other: it means "forget-me-not".
It has been chosen as the name of the new charity because the two Princes see its work as a memorial to the charity work of their own mothers; and because its aim as an organisation is to ensure that Lesotho, and the current plight of its children, is not forgotten.
During his gap year in 2004 Prince Harry spent time working with various charities and organisations in the country and made a documentary to raise awareness of the country's problems: access to education, AIDS and poverty.
Titled "The Forgotten Kingdom - Prince Harry in Lesotho" it covers some of the projects with which Harry was involved, including the Mants'ase Orphanage near Mohale's Hoek.
The programme included interviews with Harry, Prince Seeiso, who helped organise the trip, as well as doctors and aid workers. It also included footage shot by Harry himself on his own video camera.
At the same time as the documentary, the Red Cross Lesotho Fund was launched by the British Red Cross to help support HIV/AIDS and
community projects in Lesotho. International sales from the documentary and donations raised around £1 million and this money was put
into 18 different community-based projects working with disadvantaged children. Sentebale has taken over from the Red Cross Lesotho
Fund to continue this work.
On a return visit in 2004, Prince Harry was delighted to find improvements had already taken place at the Mants'ase Orphanage, including new solar panels for electricity, perimeter fencing, beds and mattresses, oil heaters and carpets. Prince Harry also visited Liketso, a 10-month-old victim of abuse, who had improved much since the last time he saw her.
He returned again to Lesotho to see more of his charity's work in April 2006.
Although Prince Harry is focusing on his military career, he has raised money for the charity, principally by playing in sponsored polo
matches during 2006.
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Prince Harry - Interests
Like his brother William, Harry is a keen sportsman and enjoys participating in and watching sports such as rugby union and polo.
Where possible, Harry plays polo regularly, both to raise money for charity and in competitive matches. Harry played polo for the army whilst at Sandhurst and during his time in Australia in November 2003, he played in the Young England versus Young Australia Polo Test Match, near Sydney, Australia. Both Princes play to a one goal handicap.
Prince Harry also enjoys participating in and watching rugby. In September 2004, Harry trained as a Rugby Development Officer for the Rugby Football Union and volunteered in schools around the country encouraging young people to learn the sport.
Prince Harry also enjoys listening to music and off-road motor-biking.
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