From royal rebel to a national treasure, the transformation has been quite remarkable

IT WAS two years ago, in a remote corner of New Zealand, that Prince Harry signalled his life was changing direction. Until that point he was known as the party prince, rebelling against the constraints of royal life and generating tabloid headlines that had Palace officials reaching for the smelling salts.

But as he prepared to leave the Army in May 2015, the Prince gave what was then a rare personal interview in which he spoke candidly about his hopes for the future. During a visit to Stewart Island, a tiny New Zealand outpost, the Prince said he was at a “crossroads” in life and keen to settle down. “I don’t think you can force these things. It will happen when it’s going to happen. Of course, I would love to have kids right now, but there’s a process that one has to go through…” he told Sky News.

He wanted a post-military career in which he could “give something back” and work alongside ordinary people, he added. Both goals have been achieved. The Prince has thrown himself into charity work, as founder of the Invictus Games and as a campaigner on mental health issues.

And after relationships with Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas that never looked set to last the distance, he has found a wife. Meghan Markle’s journey from television actress to royal bride has been presented as a fairytale, but it is Prince Harry who has undergone the more remarkable transformation: from lost boy to bad boy to national treasure. For years, he ricocheted from one public relations disaster to another. Some of it was typical teenage behaviour, as when he was found smoking cannabis at Highgrove. A furious Prince of Wales sent the 16-year-old Prince to a rehabilitation centre to hear addicts speak about the dangers of drugs.

But then came two notorious episodes: dressing up as a Nazi in 2005 for a fancy dress party shortly before Holocaust Memorial Day – Clarence House conceded it was “a poor choice of costume” – and being caught on video referring to an officer cadet at Sandhurst as “our little Paki friend”. The Prince’s spokesman said he had used the term “without any malice and as a nickname for a highly popular member of his platoon”. The nadir came in 2012, when the Prince was pictured cavorting naked in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Yet he always retained the affection of the public, who were mindful of the great upheaval that he and the Duke of Cambridge had been through with their parents’ divorce and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. His bravery and commitment to his country were also never in doubt, as he undertook two tours of Afghanistan. Leaving the Army proved a turning point. He won praise for his interview with The Daily Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon, when he admitted his life had descended into “total chaos”. And the nation was rooting for him when he spoke of wanting to find a partner “to share the pressure” of life in the spotlight. “To be fair, I haven’t had that many opportunities to get out there and meet people,” he said, months before meeting Ms Markle. “But if someone slips into my life then that’s absolutely fantastic.”