Prince Harry turning 40 is a moment to reflect on a life which is far away from what he thought

What a difference 10 years make.

When Prince Harry opened the first ever Invictus Games in London, it was a few days before his 30th birthday. 

He was beardless and recently single, he wore British Army military fatigues, he was an active and senior member of the Royal Family who was fourth in line to the throne.

He’d become an uncle to Prince George a year earlier, and his charity work was organised through a foundation he shared with his brother and sister-in-law, William and Kate. 

It was the last days of his twenties and Prince Harry was joined at the opening ceremony by his father and stepmother, then the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince William, then the Duke of Cambridge. 

It was a picture of a happy family at an event which was – and still is - close to Harry’s heart. 

In fact, he’d had the spark of an idea for a tournament for the injured and sick servicemen and women when he was flying back from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan - in front of him was the coffin of a dead Danish soldier, around him were seriously injured patients en route to the dedicated military ward at a hospital in Birmingham.

Ten years after the inaugural Invictus Games, the tournament has grown massively in size and strength but Harry’s life is completely different. 

Gone has the life in a palace, with a regular drumbeat of royal engagements. 

Gone has his close bond with William and Kate and many of the friendships he made through school and army life. 

Gone, too, have his official connections to the UK military.

And gone has the life of a single man, unable to find a woman who could handle the fame of being the partner of one of the most popular members of the Royal Family. 

If turning 30 was a moment to reflect on a decade of military service and major partying, turning 40 is a moment to reflect on a life which is far, far away from the one he thought, 10 years ago, was set in stone. 

At age 40 Harry is living five thousand miles from his old home at Kensington Palace, he is married with two children, he has a house with more bathrooms than you’ll find in some whole streets, he is financially independent of the Royal Family, pays for his own security team and supports causes and charity of his choosing. 

Away from the strict royal rota system which controls media access to senior royals, Harry can now invite whatever reporter and film crew he wants to his events - or none at all. 

And he can still travel abroad on quasi royal tours, like in Nigeria and Colombia recently, but they are trips that Harry and Meghan have chosen without orders from the UK Foreign Office and senior courtiers at the palace. 

In short, you might describe it as a perfect life, the one he always dreamed of, away from the confines of the ancient institution of monarchy with a wife he loves and two children to whom he is devoted. 

Archie and Lilibet are still a prince and princess, now that they are the grandchildren of the monarch.

But their royal grandad in London is someone they rare see. In fact, Lilibet has met King Charles just the once at the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. 

And they live among some of the richest and most famous faces in America.

They can share pots of Meghan’s homemade jam with Oprah Winfrey, or pop in for coffee with Ellen DeGeneres or Katy Perry. 

But if walks on the beach and bike rides with his security team in tow are an upside of the new life, a lack of direction for the future might be considered a downside. 

The couple have had mixed success with their media deals.

The multi-million dollar Netflix contract is still intact but it’s hard to see how any show will be as successful as the one about their exit from the Royal Family. 

Harry does have a documentary called Polo which was produced by the Archewell Production arm and will start streaming soon. 

The $20 million (£15.2 million) deal with Spotify however, turned sour, after just one podcast series with Meghan, called Archetypes. 

The former head of podcasts and monetisation for the platform, Bill Simmons, labelled the Sussexes “f*****g grifters”.

He said on his own show: “I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories…” 

But money is unlikely to be a huge headache for Harry given he received an estimated £10 million inheritance from his late mother, Princess Diana, on his 30th birthday and a reported sum of millions on his 40th from his great-grandmother, the late Queen Mother.  

And his memoir Spare was the fastest selling non-fiction book of all time and will bring him regular royalties. 

It’s very helpful when you have a team of protection officers who need their wages paid each month and a Montecito mansion that must cost a small fortune to run. 

The Duke and Duchess’ trip to Colombia this summer might have been met with criticism by some who disregarded it as a quasi-royal tour, but the invitation came directly from Colombia’s vice president.

She knew the visit - by one of the most famous couples in the world - would generate positive images of her country to a global audience. 

But given tourists are warned against travelling to many parts of Colombia, it did raise questions about why Prince Harry claims the UK is not a safe country for his wife to visit. 

With or without a royal title, Harry maintains his life is one of service and that will not change, despite living on a different continent to his country of birth. 

And whether or not you agree with Harry’s court battles with the British tabloid press, they have so far proved to be very successful. 

He received an apology from the Mirror Group after winning his case against them relating to 115 stories. 

He continues to fight the publishers of The Sun, and publishers of the Daily Mail over allegations of ‘unlawful information gathering’, which include claims of phone hacking and other illegal ways of getting stories. The newspaper group deny any wrongdoing. 

As for the next decade, now that Harry says he plans to look forward rather than look back, we wait to see how the powerful Sussex brand will evolve on the world stage. 

Archewell is a successful non-profit with its slogan “Show Up. Do Good”. 

And the Invictus Games, a decade after Harry founded them, are going from strength to strength and continue to change the lives of those who compete in them. 

Invictus will soon stage its first ever winter tournament in Canada, and it returns to the Birmingham in the UK in 2027.

Then we will get many answers about the state of Prince Harry’s life: will he bring Meghan to the UK for the Birmingham Games, as he’s done at all previous events; will his family come to support as they did in 2014; will he be welcomed back to his home country where his public approval ratings are consistently low?

At age 40, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has the fame and the finances to do what he wants.

For the first time in his life, he is now free to choose his future path.

This is the Talking Royals - our weekly podcast about the royal family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson