At Prince Harry’s last milestone birthday, his future looked to be set in stone. A road of royal duty ahead, regularly voted the most popular member of his family, and actively in search of someone to settle down with, the 30-year-old Harry was fourth in line to the throne and at the heart of a newly streamlined Firm.
Then, he was weighing up his options as he left the Army, speaking of hopes that he would find someone to have children with, and a job with a wage and “normal people” as colleagues. He was, he said, at a “crossroads”.
He celebrated his birthday, just after his first Invictus Games, with a black-tie party at Clarence House thrown by his brother, with Highgrove champagne sent by his father.
A decade on, as the Duke of Sussex turns 40, and everything has changed.
As the sun rises over his Californian home on September 15, Harry could be forgiven for congratulating himself on achieving part of what he set out to do: he has one of the most famous marriages in the world, with two small children he dotes on.
Gone is the royal duty; the engagements shaking hands with volunteers on a wet Wednesday back in Britain. But gone too are the palaces, the honorary military titles, and many of the old friends who would drag him down the pub or reminisce over their schooldays and Army escapades.
Instead, there is Montecito. Walks on the beach, bike rides, school runs and jellyfish kites flown on the lawn. Flanked by security on the rare occasions he is seen in public, Prince Harry is in demand but under the radar. He works out, occasionally goes out for dinner, hosts new friends at his nine-bedroom home (complete with 16 bathrooms and a swimming pool).
Prince Archie is now five and at a local school, while three-year-old Princess Lilibet, according to her mother, has “found her voice”.
There is much, in short, to enjoy.
But if a 40th birthday is a chance to sit back and evaluate life, Harry has more than most to think about.
