Prince Harry has said he wants to settle down and have children but is waiting to find the right woman who will be “next to me to share the pressure”.
Revealing his reasons for leaving the Armed Forces later this summer, the 30-year-old said he decided to move on because he is “at a cross roads” and needed to choose between taking on greater royal duties or pursuing his military career.
Speaking on the remote Stewart Island off the coast of New Zealand, the prince said he missed the coverage of the birth of Princess Charlotte because he was on duty with the Australian military but was looking forward to meeting her and holding her.
Discussing his own marital plans in an interview with Sky News, he said: “There come times when you think now is the time to settle down, or now is not, whatever way it is, but 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 and tours like this are great fun.”
The prince added: “Hopefully I’m doing all right by myself. It would be great to have someone else next to me to share the pressure. But, you know, time will come and whatever happens, happens.”
Prince Harry has just completed a month-long secondment with the Australian military and is touring New Zealand before returning to Britain to complete his active military career.
He said that he has not decided what he will do when he leaves but would like to earn a wage.
“It is a cross roads. I’m in the same position now as other people in my year group, or my rank would be in,” he said.
“Because I’m a non-grad, I’m slightly behind everybody else. And most of the guys I joined with have already left, for numerous reasons. But it is a case of, if we move on, more responsibilities come.
“And, I suppose with wanting to take on slightly more of [the royal duties] role, I don’t really feel I would be in the right position [to help] the careers of more soldiers or to take on the responsibility of continuing to fly, for instance.
“So it is a balance, and I’ve tried to get it right over the last six months to a year, before I finished. And it was getting hard. As I said: I’m at a cross roads.” Asked about a future possible job, he said: “There’s a few things on the shortlist. But I don’t want to speculate because I know what people are like.
“This part of the role is fantastic but I and William – both of us – feel as though we need to have a wage as well; to work with normal people, to keep us sane, to keep us ticking along.”
Captain Wales, as he is known in the Armed Forces, said he had been unable to watch his brother and the Duchess of Cambridge present Princess Charlotte to the world because of his gruelling service in Australia.
“I didn’t see any coverage at all,” he said. “He sent me two photos; one before everybody else, which was nice, and then another – one with her back with George back home. So, as I said, I’m so looking forward to seeing her, to meeting her and to holding her.
“She was a little bit late, hence I missed her. So she’ll have to work on that! But apart from that, it’s fantastic news for both of them. So I’m thrilled.”
This article was originally published in the Telegraph.
