🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Prince Harry's "glow up of the century" has gone viral on social media after images showing the royal over the past two decades were uploaded to TikTok.
The video, posted by TikTok user iloveprincessdiana71, has gained over 450,000 views since being uploaded and received more than 50,000 likes.
Some of the images shown in the clip were taken during the prince's time in the British armed forces. He served two tours in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2012.
Several commenters on the video highlighted the physical similarities between Harry and his grandfather, as well as his mother, Princess Diana. "His eyes are just like Prince Philip's," posted one user.
"I see the resemblance of his mom," said another, adding, "BIGGEST GLOW UP IN HISTORY."
A number of royal videos have gone viral on TikTok over the past year, many from accounts dedicated to sharing videos relating to Diana, as 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of her death in a Paris car crash at the age of 36.
The anniversary, which was on August 31, was not marked in any formal way by the royal family. Instead, Harry and his brother, Prince William, paid individual tributes to their mother throughout the year.
Most explicitly, Harry spoke of his hopes for how the event would be marked. "I want it to be a day filled with memories of her incredible work and love for the way she did it," he said at a charity polo event in the days before the anniversary. "I want it to be a day to share the spirit of my mum with my family, with my children, who I wish could have met her."
Diana is expected to be a key figure in Harry's highly anticipated memoir.
The book, titled Spare, a reference to the "heir and a spare" motto often used for royal children, will tell the prince's story with "raw" and "unflinching" honesty, publisher Penguin Random House said. It is expected to cover the traumatic death of his mother and the breakdown of relationships in the family, which led Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, to step down as working royals and move to the U.S. in 2020.
Another key part of Harry's life expected to be covered in the memoir, as well as in his upcoming Netflix series Heart of Invictus, is his time spent in the army.
Harry's military career lasted 10 years, from 2005, when he entered the royal military training college Sandhurst, to his retirement from the Household Cavalry Blues and Royals regiment in 2015.
The prince's first tour of active service took place in Afghanistan in 2007. This was brought to a premature end after an international news outlet broke a U.K. media embargo on disclosing that he was serving on the front lines in Helmand province, much to the prince's disappointment.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that he was serving in Afghanistan in February 2008. A Clarence House statement released at the time said, "Prince Harry is very proud to serve his country on operations alongside his fellow soldiers and to do the job he has been trained for."
The prince's second tour of duty came in September 2012, when he manned the guns on an Apache helicopter, providing air support to troops on the ground. That tour ended in January 2013.
Harry retired from military service in 2015 to take up his royal duties full time. A year later, he met Markle, an American actress, whom he would marry in 2018. The couple have two children: Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.
The prince later surrendered his military patronages as part of his stepping down as a full-time working royal. This period, as well as his relationship with Markle, is expected to be examined in the couple's upcoming Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more