Prince Harry has an unlikely doppelgänger, according to the young son of Coronation Street actor Mikey North.
The actor, 39, who plays Gary Windass on the ITV soap, revealed that his son Archie spent the first few years of his life convinced his red-haired father was the Duke of Sussex.
“My son thought that I was Prince Harry for the first few years of his life,” Mr North said.
“Whenever Prince Harry came on the TV, he used to say ‘Daddy!’ Thank goodness he’s out of that phase now.”
Prince Harry has an unlikely doppelgänger, according to the young son of Coronation Street actor Mikey North
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Mr North, who resides in Bolton with his wife Rachael and their two children, Archie, nine, and Eliza, six, shares the same distinctive ginger hair that apparently caused the royal confusion.
In addition, his eldest son also shares the same name as the Duke of Sussex’s own child, Prince Archie, seven.
The actor has portrayed the former squaddie-turned-builder on the cobbles for 18 years, watching Gary evolve from a young tearaway into a husband and father of three.
Mr North describes his character as a modern-day Robin Hood figure, at his best when targeting villains rather than causing trouble for its own sake.
Prince Harry is a famous redheaded member of the Royal Family
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His dedication to making fight sequences look authentic has come at a physical cost. “I’ve got scars, I’ve broken bones, I’ve done it all, but it’s my favourite part of the job,” he continued to tell the Mirror.
Among his battle wounds, he fractured a rib after being hurled into a stack of tyres during a scene with Joe Layton, and scarred his hand after mistiming a punch and striking a wall instead of co-star Sol Heras.
“I think I’m just a frustrated stunt man and not an actor at all really!” he admitted.
Upcoming episodes will see Detective Kit Green, played by Jacob Roberts, obtain a hard drive containing data from Gary’s phone, revealing incriminating evidence. Gary is given an ultimatum: surrender to police or face a hunt for the murder weapon and a lengthy prison sentence.
Prince Archie pictured in the cockpit of a plane on Meghan Markle’s Instagram
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INSTAGRAM/@MEGHAN“Gary hates authority and the law, so normally he would do everything he could to evade Kit, but at the same time he’s wondering whether it’s time to just tell the truth, get it out of the way, go down and do his time and do the right thing for once,” Mr North explained.
The storyline has also placed enormous pressure on Gary’s marriage to Maria, played by Samia Longchambon.
“I honestly don’t know if it can survive,” Mr North said, noting that the enduring bond between Gary and Sarah Platt has become a recurring source of tension.
Beyond the soap, Mr North’s wife Rachael, a former dancer now working as a teaching assistant, enjoys reminding him of her own screen credentials.
“She appeared in the Captain America movie, so she always reminds me that she did Hollywood before I have!” he said.
Before acting took over, Mr North grew up in Scarborough playing cricket at county level.
At 15, he wrote to a thousand agents seeking representation, and just one replied, an agent he still works with today. His first major break came at 18 with a play at the Bush Theatre in London.
Early television roles in The Bill, Waterloo Road and Doctors followed before he joined Coronation Street at 21. Mr North now has his sights set on Celebrity MasterChef, citing Gordon Ramsay as his culinary hero.