Prince Harry, Queen Letizia of Spain and Prince Daniel of Sweden celebrate their birthdays on 15 September 2017, and King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrates the anniversary of his accession.
Prince Harry
The younger son of Prince Charles and Diana Princess of Wales, Henry Charles Albert David was born in the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital on 15 September 1984.
At birth, he was third in line to the British throne following his father and older brother William, Duke of Cambridge.
At the moment he is currently in fifth place, since the birth of his nephew George and niece Charlotte, but he will be bumped down to sixth, following the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third baby who is due in March or April 2018.
Prince Harry spent ten years in the British Armed Forces, including one month’s secondment with the Australian Defence Force, before resigning as Captain in 2015.
He completed two operational tours of Afghanistan before he transferred to a Staff Officer role in London where he helped organise the inaugural Invictus Games in London – an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women. The Invictus Games uses the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and create a wider understanding and respect for all those who serve their country.
The first Invictus Games were held in 2014, with over 400 competitors from 13 nations, including Australia, competing in nine adaptive sports.
The Invictus Games will be held in Toronto in 2017, and in Sydney in 2018.
Prince Harry also undertakes many official engagements in the UK and overseas on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, aged 91, who has reduced her workload.
He is the Patron of many charities which focus on the welfare of servicemen and women, developmental opportunities for hard to reach children and African conservation.
Prince Harry co-founded the charity, Sentebale, with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in their mothers’ memories to support orphans and vulnerable children. Sentebale means ‘Forget me not’.
He is dating American actress Meghan Markle who stars in the television series, Suits. There has been an increased speculation of a forthcoming engagement, especially since her interview with Vanity Fair in their October 2017 issue.
Queen Elizabeth made Prince Harry a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in June 2015.
His official title is His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales.
Queen Letizia of Spain
Queen Letizia was born 15 September 1972 into a middle-class family in Oviedo, Asturias. She is the eldest daughter of journalist Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez and his first wife, registered nurse María de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez. She has two sisters, Telma and Erika who died in 2007.
Her parents divorced in 1999 and her father remarried in 2004.
Letizia followed in her family footsteps by pursuing a career in journalism, as her paternal grandmother, María del Carmen ‘Menchu’ Álvarez de Valle had a career as a radio broadcaster in Asturias for over 40 years.
She attended La Gesta School in Oviedo before her parents moved to Madrid, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism at the Complutense University in Madrid, and a master’s degree in audiovisual journalism at the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism.
Letizia had married Alonso Guerrero Pérez in 1998, after a ten-year courtship. They were divorced a year later.
She originally worked in print media, before working overseas in Mexico with newspaper Siglo 21.
Letizia moved from newspapers to television where she was employed by various networks including Bloomberg (Madrid office), CNN+ as a reporter, editor and presenter.
From 2000, Letizia worked for TVE where she was working for the channel 24 Horas, including reporting live from Ground Zero following the September 11 attacks in 2001 and from Iraq in 2003.
The Madrid Press Association awarded Letizia the Larra Prize in 2000 for the most distinguished young journalist of the year.
She married Felipe, Prince of Asturias, on 22 May 2004 in the Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almundena in Madrid.
They have two daughters, Leonor (born 31 October 2005) and Sofía (born 29 April 2007).
King Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 and handed the throne to Prince Felipe.
Letizia is the first Spanish queen who was born as a commoner, and the first Spanish-born queen consort since Alfonso XII’s wife, Mercedes of Orleans.
Prince Daniel of Sweden
Prince Daniel was born in the Örebo University Hospital on 15 September 1973 – the day which his father-in-law, Carl XVI Gustaf became King of Sweden.
He spent most of his childhood in Ockelbo with his parents Olle and Ewa Westling and his older sister Anna. He finished high school in 1991, before completing his national service with the Swedish Army in the Hälsinge regiment in Gävle.
He worked at a school and recreation centre for children with special needs, before he moved to Stockholm to study for two years at the Lillsved Sports Folk High School, to become a youth recreation leader focusing on sport. He worked at a fitness company part-time whilst completing his course.
The fitness centre employed Daniel full-time when he finished. He also taught courses for personal trainers and bodybuilding coaches.
He started his own company in 1997 and worked as a consultant in the fitness industry. He ran his own gym, Master Training with a colleague.
He met Crown Princess Victoria in 2001 when he became her personal trainer following her battle with overcoming a serious eating disorder.
Their relationship was like a fairytale in reverse where a beautiful Princess turned a country boy into a prince, with some help from courtiers who provided lessons in etiquette, languages (English, French and German), Swedish history and political science.
A makeover with designer glasses and suits helped complete the transformation.
Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel were married on 19 June 2010 in Storkyrkan in Stockholm.
They have two children, Estelle (born 23 February 2012) and Oscar (born 2 March 2016).
The Swedish Royal Court has released a new photo of Prince Daniel to mark his 44th birthday.
King Carl XVI Gustaf’s Accession Anniversary
Carl XVI Gustaf ascended the Swedish throne on 15 September 1973, following the death of his grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf.
He became the Crown Prince when he was only four when his great-grandfather Gustaf V died and his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf inherited the Swedish throne in 1950.
Carl Gustaf’s father had died in a plane crash in Denmark when he was only nine months old.
He said to Swedish survivors of the 2004 tsunami during a memorial service in 2005, ‘I know what it means to grow up without a dad.’
The new king took ‘For Sweden — With The Times’ as his motto.
He married a commoner Sivia Sommerlath in 1976 after they met in 1972 during the Olympic Games in Munch.
King Carl Gustaf is the second-longest reigning monarch after he overtook his great-grandfather Gustaf V’s reign in 2016.
He will become Sweden’s longest-reigning monarch in 2018 when he beats Magnus IV Ericsson’s 45-year reign which lasted from 1319 to 1364.
King Gustaf V reigned for nearly 43 years when he died, aged 90, in October 1950, making him the second-longest reigning monarch. He was also Sweden’s oldest-reigning monarch.
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