Prince Harry at 40: Called Henry only when he was very naughty (quite often), how the cheeky Duke of Sussex endeared himself to millions… before marriage changed everything, writes royal expert CHARLES RAE

The Duke of Sussex was a cuddly child who was fearless and mischievous even at a young age.

Prince Henry Charles Albert David – the second son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana – was born weighing 6lb 14oz, at 4.20pm on September 15, 1984.

He made his first public appearance the following day on the steps of the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London, wrapped in a white shawl in his mother’s arms.

It was made clear by his father that the newborn would be known as Harry – except of course when he was very, very naughty.

So that meant that his full name was used quite often by his parents.  

Harry set his own rules, as proven by the then six-year-old telling his brother William:  ‘You’ll be King. I won’t. So, I can do what I want!’

And he made the most of it.

Harry’s cheeky sense of humour and ­happy-go-lucky nature made him instantly lovable.

Diana’s former chef Darren McGrady recalled how Harry tried to trick him into giving him and William pizza for an evening meal.

It’s no secret that Wills and Harry, who he described as ‘royal princes but with children’s’ palates,’ were partial to the odd bit of fast food. 

American-style foods like loaded potato skins, baby-back BBQ ribs, and pizza were apparently among Harry’s firm favourites. 

Princess Diana would take them down to Sticky Fingers near Kensington High Street for a treat, McGrady said in 2018.

But their nannies at Kensington Palace — who used to decide on the princes’ menu — were not always as keen to indulge the boys with their favourite foods.

Instead, they often opted for traditional roast meat and lots of healthy greens like broccoli and cabbage.

‘One evening roast chicken was on the menu,’ McGrady said.

‘And I found a note on the desk that read “Darren please give the boys pizza” and was signed Jess, the name of the nanny.

‘But it was written in [a] 10-year-olds’ handwriting,’ he continued, explaining that he soon realised it was Harry attempting to pick his own menu.

McGrady said he didn’t make the boys pizza that night and made sure they got the original chicken option ‘because he was too scared of the nanny,’ but he kept the note to tease Harry about it.

Former Police bodyguard Ken Wharfe first met the boys in 1986 when he was appointed to look after them.

He recounted that Diana told him: ‘I don’t envy you looking after my kids’.

And he would often hear more than once Diana scolding Harry with the words: ‘HENRY, NO!’

Wharfe said the angriest he ever saw Diana was when she was telling off Harry for hitting William with a snooker cue while they stayed on Richard Branson’s Caribbean island, Necker.

He also famously stuck his tongue out at photographers from the back of a car and once also stuck two fingers up at them.

One of the worst scrapes he ever got into was when he was five or six.   

Dressed in army fatigues, the already soldier-mad youngster went to see Wharfe because he was bored and wanted something to do.

Wharfe handed him a police radio and gave him various points to go to within the grounds of Kensington Palace.

He was to report back on his radio with the words: ‘Mission accomplished.’

After a few times, Harry asked over the radio if he could go and see his aunt Jane, Diana’s sister who also lived at the Palace.

A short time later when Harry did not come back, he asked Jane where he was, and she told the flustered policeman that Harry had left 10 minutes earlier.

But instead of turning left he turned right and headed for Kensington High Street.

Wharfe – seeing his career almost floating away – contacted the young Prince and said: ‘Where are you, Harry.’

The youngster said: ‘Hang on a minute. I am outside Tower Records.’

Wharfe recalled: ‘I never moved so fast to recover Harry to the safety of the Palace.’

Harry, on his sixth birthday, put his hand over the mouth of his two-year-old cousin, Princess Beatrice, on the palace balcony as the royal family watch the Battle of Britain 50th Anniversary Parade.

He was dubbed ‘Kamikaze Harry’ by his nanny in tribute to his daredevil ways.

He was also something of a prankster.

At the age of eight he locked himself in a toilet on board a train just for fun, ignoring Diana’s pleas as she repeatedly banged on the door.

A lover of practical jokes, he liked whoopee cushions and, as a small boy, a favourite trick was to dismantle his parents’ hi-fi at Highgrove.

He would wait to watch their faces as they switched on the stereo, and nothing happened.

But he also suffered with the emotional distress of witnessing the breakdown of his parents’ marriage, and the public fallout that followed. 

Then there was his mother’s death in Paris in 1997, which in effect cut short his childhood

As a teenager there were drugs, and raucous parties.

But he eventually joined the Army and completed two tours of Afghanistan, which did much to counteract some of his brattish behaviour in his teenage years.

But now, following his marriage to one-time actress Meghan Markle, he has turned into a whinger as he enters the early stages of middle age.

His and Meghan’s controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey came after they walked away from the Royal Family to live in the USA.

And then of course Harry poured out further venom on his family in his memoir Spare.  

There was also the couple’s Netflix series, in which more ‘truth bombs’ were fired back towards the Palace.

He no longer speaks to William or sister-in-law Catherine, and rarely to his father.

When he unexpectedly returned to the UK for his uncle’s funeral last month, he was said to have sat well away from his brother, and witnesses said the pair did not speak to each other. 

Harry seems to spend his life now talking to lawyers and fighting the British Government because he has lost his taxpayer police protection in the UK.

It is a great pity that the young chap who endeared himself to millions in his home country and beyond has now turned into a sour man as he reaches a milestone birthday.

Charles Rae is a former royal correspondent and the author of Diana: The People’s Princes – A Personal Tribute in Words and Pictures