Scarred by the death of his mother, Prince Harry struggled in the royal limelight for much of his life, and his fears for wife Meghan Markle proved to be the final straw.
The younger son of the heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late Diana, princess of Wales, Harry, now 35, earned a reputation as a playboy in his youth, seemingly desperate to escape the royal straightjacket.
Having left his wild child ways behind him, the prince appeared to have found peace with Markle and son Archie, but it proved to be a temporary respite from the forces that he still blames for Diana's death.
The Duke of Sussex, who spent 10 years in the British army, serving two tours of duty in Afghanistan, has constantly feuded with the media, which gleefully lapped up his rowdy behaviour as a youngster.
But he rebuilt his reputation through his charity work with wounded veterans and advocacy on mental health, an issue close to his heart.
But he has revealed that for a long time he struggled to cope with his mother's death in a Paris car crash in 1997, and sought professional help a few years ago.
In a remarkably candid interview, the prince once admitted he came "very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions".
A happier chapter in his life began in July 2016, when he met Markle, an American television actress, on a blind date set up by a mutual friend. Their transatlantic romance quickly blossomed.
Shutting down
Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales was born on September 15,1984, the "spare" to his brother William, who is one day set to inherit the throne.
Both educated at the elite Eton school, their childhood was dominated by the messy breakdown of their parents' marriage and Diana's tragic death.
The young princes walking behind her coffin – Harry only 12, his brother 15 – was one of the most enduring images of Diana's funeral.
"Losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but also my work as well," Harry said.
He caused outrage in 2005 when photographs of him in a Nazi Afrika Korps fancy dress outfit made front-page news.
That was the year he entered the army, a conventional path for royals and one that he later admitted "was the best escape I've ever had" from the constant public attention.
I will not be bullied
He left the armed forces in 2015 rather than take an army desk job, and began to focus on royal duties.
The meeting with Markle came out of the blue, but both were quickly lovestruck. They bonded over their mutual interest in good causes.
He has set up the Invictus Games, a sports championship for wounded military personnel, which has been held in London, Orlando, Toronto and Sydney.
Harry and Markle married at Saint George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19,2018.
They moved last year from living on the grounds of Kensington Palace in the capital into Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate as they started their new life as parents.
But they were increasingly on the receiving end of negative headlines about Markle's alleged demanding behaviour and a rift with William.
The couple recently stepped up their war with the media by launching legal action against British tabloid The Mail on Sunday for alleged invasion of privacy over a letter from the duchess to her father.
It came with a stinging statement from Harry about general tabloid coverage.
Asked if Markle was facing the same media pressures as Diana, Harry replied: "I have a family to protect. I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum." — AFP
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