The royals may look picture perfect when they go out for an event, or publish a cute family shot on their Instagram, but they're all a bit weird in their habits and private lives when we look past the jewels. Prince Charles likes to talk to plants, and Queen Elizabeth is said to like ice balls — not ice cubes — in her drinks.
See? Weird.
Yet, Prince Harry has always seemed to be a little different from the rest of the royals — from the way he seems so at ease with regular people, to the fact that he served in the frontlines of a war. But just like his family, he's got particular things that sound just a little bit strange to the rest of us, and through the years, they've leaked out for to shock us or make us chuckle.
Harry has always been a fun dude, and a fairly open one, but even without those attributes, his life has been documented since the day he was born — so it's not super difficult to find out what makes him tick that's beyond the usual, everyday stuff most of us do. Some of the odd facts about him and his lifestyle come from the influence of his family — especially his dad — who raised Harry and his bro, Prince William, after Princess Diana died.
There's a lot we know about Harry, but what are the unexpected, odd, curious things about him? Read our 19 weird facts about Prince Harry to find out!
Check out our Meghan Markle page for all the latest news about Meghan, Prince Harry, and their growing family.
Expert at Building Toilets
When anyone is part of a huge team undertaking — such as walking across Antarctica — it's not enough to taking care of themselves. Everyone has to pitch in to keep safe and be successful. So what, pray tell, was Harry's job on an expedition to the South Pole? Designing and constructing the toilets, which featured snow walls and a paper holder, and took about 45 minutes to build.
Well done, Harry!
Taking Two HIV Tests on Camera
As far as we're concerned, Harry has always been the superstar of the royal family. He's unstuffy and charismatic, and has a flair for doing things that resonate with regular people. It was no different when he wanted to de-stigmatize getting tested for HIV while on a tour of the Caribbean Commonwealth countries in 2016. He enlisted Rihanna while in her native Barbados, and together, they took the test on camera. Weird fact: It wasn't even the first time he took an HIV test on camera. In July of the same year, he did a test on the royal family's first ever Facebook live.
Picking Up Litter Wherever He Goes
In a recent documentary for Prince Charles' 70th birthday, Harry talked about his environmentally aware dad's influence, including ingraining in him the habit of picking up litter — which got him made fun of at school. "I used to get taken the mickey out of at school for just picking up rubbish," he said. "When you go for walks anywhere, if you see something, it stands out, you pick it up. Before you know it, somebody says, 'What are you doing?' I've literally done this because I am programmed to do it because my father did it. And actually, we should all be doing it."
Won't Stop Turning Off Lights
We often hear about Meghan's influence on Harry — getting him to cut down on cigarette smoking, eat better, and work out. But apparently, Harry is way ahead of her when it comes to conserving energy. He goes around the house turning off unnecessary lights. "My wife certainly goes, 'Well, why turn the lights off? You know, it's dark.' I go, 'We only need one light, we don't need like six,'" he once revealed.
Wooing Meghan With a Goofy Emoji
When texting a potential new bae, most people probably pepper their messages with hearts and smiley faces in all forms — upside down, red-cheeked, etc. But according to the book Finding Freedom, Harry's go-to emoji is the ghost with the different-sized eyes and tongue hanging out .
… It doesn't exactly scream romance, but hey, clearly, it worked.
Jennifer Aniston Obsession
After Jennifer Aniston appeared on the cover of GQ wearing nothing but a tie in 2009, Harry was besotted, but she wasn't having it, because of their 16-year age difference. "Harry was infatuated with Jen for years," author Ian Halperin, who wrote a biography of Jennifer, told the Mirror. "He told friends she was 'princess material.' He visited LA and was partying heavily with models there. He told a close friend his favorite actress was Jen and got her number. He texted her and sent emojis. One source told me Jen was aware of Harry’s crush but didn’t want to lead him on because of the age difference."
Shoes With Holes
We can't decide whether this is Harry just being randomly frugal or just lazy, but he wears these black dress shoes that are super worn down. While it's true that royals tend to wear certain clothing and accessories for decades, they're usually in impeccable condition. But Harry's stylist is either out to lunch, or the prince just has a soft spot for soft shoes — to the point that he's been photographed many times wearing shoes that could use a trip to the repair shop, or, ya know, the garbage.
The 'Hand in Jacket' Pose
In many pictures of Prince Harry, he's seen doing the same move: posing or walking with his right hand in his pocket. It was there during his and Meghan's engagement photo op with the press, and it's been visible in many other photographs of Harry with world leaders and foreign royals. Experts say it's probably a subconscious, self-comforting move, especially given Harry's dislike of photographers — or situations that make him uncomfortable or nervous.
"This is a habit that we see from Harry frequently that has it's roots in protecting himself — putting a barrier between him and the photographers," expert Traci Brown told Hello. "Your solar plexus is a very sensitive area. He can still look royal while doing this move and give himself a little extra comfort at the same time. This is deeply unconscious and it's unlikely he'd admit to exactly why he's doing it!"
Trekkie
As a little boy, Harry loved Star Trek,, and it had such a huge impact on him that it shaped a love of all things space. In fact, while in the army, he took a course in oceanology and land and sea surveillance — part of astronaut training — even asking for a seat on one of the first Virgin Galactic sub-orbital flights so he could be the first royal in space, according to a Sun report.
Very Specific Way to Cook Bacon
When former royal chef Darren McGrady wrote a cookbook, he included an adorable story about how 10-year-old Harry taught him how to cook bacon just the right way, for maximum flavor:
"First, broil the bacon, then blot it and wrap it in paper, then microwave it for a minute. "I thought, 'Yeah, OK, thank you, you little brat, teaching me how to cook.' But as soon as he was gone, I tried it, and I got this amazingly crispy bacon," McGrady said in a Food and Wine interview.
Walking All the Way to the Bottom of the World
As an army veteran, Harry has always worked to bring awareness to the needs of injured service members. So when 12 injured vets participated in a 200-mile trek to the South Pole, as part of a Walking with the Wounded event, he was in the mix. The grueling walk took its toll when he developed debilitating altitude sickness. (Who knew the South Pole is 9,000 feet above sea level? Not us!)
"Antarctica jumped up and bit me on the [expletive]," Prince Harry said ever-so colorfully.
Brief Rehab
OK, it was really only for one day … but the fact remains that when Harry was 16, dad Charles got wind of the fact that his teen son had been getting high and drunk with his friends — so he tried (and failed) to nip it in the bud. Charles arranged for Harry to spend the day at a rehab center with a former heroin addict to learn about the dangers of drugs. Little did the straight-arrow Charles know that Harry's wildest partying days were still ahead of him.
Nude Photos
Harry was embroiled in a scandal when The Sun published pictures of him naked in Las Vegas while partying with friends and girls they met. Well, Harry was cupping his privates, so he was spared complete humiliation, but it was pretty bad anyway, because the incident added to his reputation as a bad boy who partied nonstop. The scandal was pretty much forgotten when he deployed to Afghanistan a few weeks later, but those pictures? They live forever on the Internet.
Hair Therapy
As kids, William and Harry had impressive manes. As time went on, William's hair waved bye bye, and he just went with the seeming inevitability. (Maybe royals don't think hair plugs are dignified?) Harry is not too far behind. While his has seemed to hang on for dear life, Prince Harry has had a huge bald spot in the back of his head for years, and he's not trying to lose what he's got left. According to reports, he visited a super pricey hair therapy center in London for a $5,000 hair thickening treatment. Whether it will help is yet to be seen, since we've only seen Harry from the front on video calls since he and Meghan left royal life behind.
Reality Show Muse
While the royal family as a whole has been the subject of shows like the drama The Crown, and satire The Windsors, none of them have ever had a show based entirely on them — except Harry. Enter I Wanna Marry Harry, a truly terrible reality competition show that duped 12 American women into thinking the redhead they were competing to date was actually Prince Harry. (Seriously.) The gaslighting of these apparently not-so-bright women was on another level. Not surprisingly, the show was pulled after just four episodes.
Part of an Exclusive Club of Senior Royals
Though Harry is no longer a working royal, he is still part of the Counsellors of State, a group of five high-ranking royals who can perform duties on behalf of the Queen — should she be too ill, or otherwise incapacitated. The other people in the group are Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William, and Prince Andrew. It's unlikely Harry would be called on to serve, since usually only two counsellors become active at a time, and he's not even in the country. Then again, we've seen much weirder things happen in 2020.
Endless Names
While this probably seems totally normal to royals and members of the upper class in Britain, to the rest of us, it's so strange that Harry uses a bunch of different names in different situations. He was born Prince Henry Charles Albert David, but has been called Prince Harry all his life. (OK, so far, so good.) But his actual last name is Mountbatten-Windsor — a compound of Prince Philip's adopted last name, and the royal house of Windsor's name.
But wait, there's more.
While he was in the army, Harry was known as Harry Wales, a totally different last name, which references dad Prince Charles' title as the Prince of Wales. Harry is also the Duke of Sussex, the Earl of Dumbarton when visiting Scotland, and Baron Kilkeel on Ireland visits.
No wonder he's always saying he wants to be called just Harry.
Odd Jobs
Yup, Harry did a summer-long stint as a jackaroo, which is a sort of Australian ranch hand. As a 19-year-old who had just finished high school — and was taking a gap year before going on to military academy — Harry headed to a ranch called Tooloombilla Station, in Queensland. The ranch was owned by one of Princess Diana's closest friends, and Harry spent weeks rounding up cattle, making and repairing fences, and looking adorable in a leather hat.
Rugby Coach
Is there anything Prince Harry hasn't tried at least once? Probably not. His list includes the sport of rugby — not just playing it casually, but actually coaching it. He took a coaching course during his gap year, and then spent time around Britain assisting school coaches. He also became a patron for the Rugby Football Union's program to boost participation in schools.
