He became His Serene Highness Prince Henry of Battenberg, although he remained ineligible to inherit the throne of Hesse or to receive a civil list stipend.

He served in the Prussian Garde du Corps and was also Honorary Colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Bulgaria,[1] where his brother Alexander was Prince.

[2] On 22 July 1885, the Queen made Prince Henry a Knight Companion of the Garter, and granted him the style Royal Highness to give him rank equal to his wife.

On 22 August 1885, exactly a month after the wedding, Henry was made Honorary Colonel of the 5th (Isle of Wight, Princess Beatrice's) Volunteer Battalion, the Hampshire Regiment,[8] In early 1886, it was announced in The Times that he would be made a captain in the 1st Life Guards, but the Secretary of State for War (Henry Campbell-Bannerman) denied knowledge of this in the House of Commons and the appointment did not take place.

He contracted malaria when the expedition reached Prahsu, about 30 miles (50 km) from Kumasi, and subsequently died aboard the cruiser HMS Blonde stationed off the coast of Sierra Leone.

His body was repatriated by the cruiser HMS Blenheim from the Canary Islands and his funeral service took place on 5 February 1896, at the same St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, on the Isle of Wight, where he had been married.

"[17] In 1896, Victoria erected a memorial to Prince Henry in the form of a Celtic cross, near Connachat Cottage in the grounds of Balmoral Castle.

In sport and war so keen, morned by these winds in heath and fir as where the falling breakers stir the pains that crowned thy closing scene".