The Duke of Sussex may now be married and a father of two, but back in the day, he was one of the more rebellious royals when it came to making headlines.
In his 2023 tell-all memoir, Spare, Prince Harry was remarkably candid about the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him over the years.
© Alamy Stock PhotoHe has garnered significant media attention over the decades, from his wild night in Las Vegas and his controversial costume blunder to his exit from the royal family in 2020. But how many of his headline-making moments can you actually remember going all the way back to the early 2000s?
Join HELLO! as we take a deep dive into some of Prince Harry's biggest challenges and controversies...
Prince Harry's time in rehab
Formerly known as the "party prince", Harry was sent to Featherstone Lodge Rehabilitation Centre in Peckham on the orders of his father, King Charles. The royal, who was a teenager at the time, spent one day in rehab.
© Photo: Getty ImagesAt the time, a senior official said: "We acknowledge that on several occasions last summer, Prince Harry experimented with cannabis. It is not that he had or has a serious problem, but he did take the drug.
"Prince Harry did attend Featherstone Lodge for a day to learn about the possible consequences of starting to take cannabis. The Prince of Wales thought it would be educational and shocking for him to attend. A large number of heroin users have, over the years and in the course of his work, told the Prince of Wales that they started on cannabis."
The royal's costume party blunder
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Harry faced backlash in 2005 after he was pictured wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party.
At the time, Harry said in a statement, "I am very sorry if I caused any offense or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise."
In his 2022 Harry & Meghan Netflix docu-series, Harry described the scandal as "one of the biggest mistakes" of his life.
He continued: "I felt so ashamed afterwards. All I wanted to do was make it right. I sat down and spoke to the chief rabbi in London, which had a profound effect on me."I went to Berlin and spoke to a Holocaust survivor. I could have just ignored it and made the same mistakes over again in my life. But I learned from that."
Harry's wild night in Las Vegas
Back in 2012, TMZ published naked photographs of Prince Harry at a £5,100-a-night luxury suite in Las Vegas. UK newspapers did not publish the photographs at the time.
© Photo: Getty ImagesReflecting on his partying antics, Prince Harry told Man of the World magazine: "At the end of the day I probably let myself down, I let my family down, I let other people down.
"But at the end of the day I was in a private area and there should be a certain amount of privacy that one should expect. Back home all my close friends rallied round me and were great."
He went on to say: "It was probably a classic case of me being too much army and not enough prince."
Stepping down as a senior member of the royal family
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the front page around the world in 2020 when they announced that they would be "stepping back" as senior members of the royal family.
© Photo: Getty ImagesIn response to Meghan and Harry’s shock announcement, the late Queen Elizabeth II released an emotional statement which read: "My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan's desire to create a new life as a young family.
"Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family."
© Photo: Getty ImagesAfter many months of deliberation, Harry and Meghan reached an agreement with the royal family. The duo agreed to drop their HRH status, Prince Harry was stripped of his military affiliations and military patronages, and the couple moreover agreed to repay the £2.4million of taxpayers' money spent on refurbishing Frogmore Cottage.
The couple's exit from royal life saw them move across the pond to Canada before settling down in Montecito, California. However after six years of living stateside, the couple recently moved back to the UK in August 2026.
Meghan and Harry's eye-opening interview with Oprah
Prince Harry caused an online sensation when he took part in the mental health series, The Me You Can't See, which he created and produced with Oprah Winfrey for Apple TV+.
The royal made a series of candid admissions about his experience of drinking and taking drugs to mask his emotions and how a fight with his then-girlfriend, Meghan Markle, led him to therapy.
Meghan, meanwhile, claimed an unnamed member of the royal family had "conversations with Harry about how dark [Archie's] skin might be when he's born".
The Sussexes explosive Netflix documentary
In December 2022, Netflix released the Sussexes explosive documentary titled Harry & Meghan. The six-part series contained a number of shocking claims by the couple, from Harry's claims that the palace planted stories, to their "cold reunion" with the royals and allegations of "institutional gaslighting".
© Photo: NetflixElsewhere, Harry made claims about his various meetings at Sandringham where the royal sat down with his brother, Prince William, the then-Prince Charles and Her Majesty to discuss his departure from the Firm.
"It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply weren't true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in," Prince Harry claimed.
