RICHARD KAY
As former tearaway Guy Pelly – who took the blame for Harry’s teenage drug taking and has two drink drive convictions – is made royal godfather . . .
YESTERDAY, amid a gala of rustling silk and stylish hats at the christening of Prince Louis, stood a rosycheeked nightclub entrepreneur taking his place as a godfather alongside proud grandparents Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
One is tempted to wonder what special qualities of Guy Pelly merit his being granted such an honour. Was it for organising William’s stag night, or might it have been for when, stripped to his boxers, he shimmied 40ft up a marquee during a Prince’s Trust concert?
Perhaps it was for his brush with authority for trying to break into Westonbirt Girls School in Gloucestershire, where, he reportedly said, he was ‘looking for totty.’ He has also twice been found guilty of drink-driving.
Yet now no one surely can doubt the intensity of the unshakeable bond between Prince William and his court jester pal, Guy Pelly.
By including him as a godfather to his 11week-old son, William has demonstrated not only their steadfast friendship but also a willingness to let bygones be bygones.
Pelly was a man, remember, who had tested every sinew of royal patience and whose weakness for high jinks had so often landed William and his brother Harry in hot water that courtiers spoke wistfully — if jokingly — of the days when troublesome figures could be banished from the kingdom.
When, infamously, Harry was photographed wearing a Nazi uniform to a private fancy dress party, fun-loving Pelly was at his side dressed as the Queen, whom he apparently mimicked to great effect.
His raunchy clubs have, over time, been havens for Harry, certainly in the years before his marriage, and where he could always be certain the roped- off VIP room would be a sanctuary from cameratoting regulars.
Such features may well prove useful when Prince Louis turns 18. Guy will be able to take him on a crash course involving girls, drink, nightclubs, cars and chaos — and return him to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wiser and ready for royal duty.
Alas, these life skills are not seen as essential requirements for godparents — at least, not according to the Church. As a godfather, Pelly had to make two commitments: to pray for Louis and help him become a Christian by encouraging him to go to church.
THE vows that Guy and the other five godparents chosen by William and Kate had to take yesterday were to reject sin and evil, and to follow the teachings of Christ.
All in all, Pelly does seem the unlikeliest of figures on which to bestow such a privilege. It means that for every landmark event in young Louis’ life, his name will be among the first on the guest list.
What it does tell us, however, is something about William and the value he places on loyalty. For when Pelly was erroneously blamed by Palace officials as being responsible for introducing the teenage Harry to drugs, and ostensibly cast out of the royal circle, he didn’t complain and stayed silent.
When it later emerged that he had had nothing to do with Harry’s adolescent experimenting with cannabis in the pubs around Highgrove, Charles’s country home, Pelly was welcomed back into the royal fold almost as a third brother.
Since then, courtiers have viewed the unstinting support Harry and William have given to Pelly’s nightclubs since he went into the business in 2007 as repaying a debt of honour. Yesterday’s christening must seal the deal.
Originally, Guy was William’s friend. In age, they are just six months apart and met in 2001 when both were junior members of the Beaufort Hunt. Then, when William was on his gap year travels, for a time Guy became close to Harry — who at 16 was plunging into the most reckless period of his life.
Stowe- educated Pelly, whose sculptor mother Vanda is a member of the Tate & Lyle sugar dynasty, was at that time a student at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, with a reputation for liking a good time.
Stories began to circulate about Prince Harry being involved with under-age drinking, lock-ins at local pubs where cannabis was sometimes smoked and cocaine being sold in £30 wraps.
In fact, Harry’s entry into this seedy world was stopped before he could get in too deep. An anxious Prince Charles arranged for his son to visit a detox clinic in South London to see for himself the consequences of drug dependency. For Harry, it was a brutal if salutary lesson which he took on board.
The murkiest aspect of the whole saga was how Guy Pelly’s name was dragged into it. He wasn’t even in Britain at the time, but visiting Australia. The theory was that to protect the Prince, who was then third in line to the throne, someone had to be blamed for ‘introducing’ him to cannabis. And Pelly was reputed to be a bit of a tearaway.
As one of his friends told me a few years ago: ‘He fitted the bill perfectly — a friend of the Princes and two years older than Harry.’
Despite protesting his innocence, Pelly quit the Cirencester college after a meeting with its principal who had announced a strict ‘no drugs’ policy.
The story duly leaked that Pelly had been exiled from the young Princes’ set. But once the brouhaha had gone away, within weeks he was back at their side at an England rugby international.
For his part, Pelly shrugged off the notoriety and got on with life, switching to Newcastle university where he did a course in land management.
Among the first thing he did after graduating was to resurrect his tearaway reputation. This was courtesy of the Prince’s Trust concert episode when, wellrefreshed and minus most of his clothes, he clambered up the outside of a marquee.
Around this time he was also questioned by police for allegedly attempting to break into the girls’ school at Westonbirt, unaware that it was their school holidays.
Though these incidents sparked fresh demands for the Princes to drop Pelly as a friend, characteristically they refused.
By now, such was his notoriety that Pelly was receiving offers to appear on television. The makers of Have I Got News For You, I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! and even Strictly Come Dancing all approached him.
He turned down every offer. Wisely, he recognised that their only interest was to try to exploit his closeness to William and Harry, about whom he has never uttered a bad word in public.
With a vague plan to open a pub, Pelly cut his teeth in the hospitality business in London, working at The Rocket pub in Acton and The Elk Bar in Fulham. He then started running The Collection, a bar restaurant in Chelsea, and was poached by Nick House and Piers Adam to run their clubs Mahiki and Whisky Mist.
Both benefited from the patronage of his royal chums — William, Harry and their then girlfriends Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy.
Pelly’s own first venture into nightclubs as co-boss ended in failure. The club, just off the King’s Road in Chelsea, was called Public and both Princes visited. Harry held his 27th birthday there.
It became so popular that wellheeled neighbours protested at the nightly disturbances of rowdism and sex in the streets nearby. After a costly legal battle, its 2am licence was cut to midnight — commercial death for a nightclub — and Public was closed.
AFTER a break, Pelly was back with a new enterprise, Mexicanthemed Tonteria in Sloane Square, which features drinks served in skulls and novelty acts including dwarves dressed as monkeys and ‘ plus- sized’ burlesque artists.
According to figures, in 2016 it made a loss of £6,000 and a few months ago Pelly said his nightclub days were over and he was looking at property development.
Four years ago, he married Holiday Inn heiress Lizzy Wilson at a lavish ceremony in Memphis, Tennesse. William and Harry were both on the guest list. The couple are now parents to a 15-month-old daughter, Willow.
Five years ago, Guy was tipped to be one of Prince George’s godparents but pointedly told me he would be no such thing. In the years since, marriage and fatherhood have made Pelly a calmer figure. One suitable, at last it seems, to take on the role of a royal godfather — a reward for all those years of unfaltering friendship.