How the Queen was ‘dismayed’ by Harry’s behaviour
PRINCE HARRY once “dismayed” his grandmother the Queen with his outrageous behaviour, according to an unearthed biography.
Both Harry and his wife Meghan Markle admitted to struggling with life in the spotlight, confessions which reportedly left the Queen and senior royals including Prince William “worried” about the couples’ welfare. In Angela Levin’s 2018 biography, ‘Harry: Conversations with the Prince’, the author revealed how the royal once made his grandmother completely “dismayed” for quite another reason. Harry was reportedly smoking cannabis during his school years when he was on holiday from Eton College – he would sneak into the local pub at Highgrove often, despite being underage.
Ms Levin wrote: “The story appeared in the papers and wasn’t denied by senior royal officials. “Instead they confirmed that Harry had subsequently spent a day at Featherstone Lodge rehabilitation centre in Peckham, South London.
“It was later revealed that he had indeed been to the centre, but before the story of his drug-taking appeared in the newspapers. The two events were unrelated but the trip to the centre was used to give a positive slant to the scandal. “Mark Dyer, […] Harry’s mentor, had gone with him to the centre, where he was chaperoned by a ‘buddy’ a former heroin addict, to learn about the possible consequences of starting to take cannabis.”
However, in 2013 Netflix documentary ‘The Royals’ ex-BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said: “I think Prince Charles was pretty shocked to find Prince Harry was smoking weed.
“He spoke to William and I think he asked William what should be done, and – maybe it was William’s suggestion I don’t know – but one way or another Harry ended up at a rehabilitation centre.”
This caused a national scandal when the news that he had attended the centre broke.
Yet Ms Levin pointed out: “The public was largely sympathetic: the general belief was that lots of adolescents go off the rails during the tricky time of growing up.” She explained: “Harry confessed that he had experimented with cannabis and drank to excess, and apologised for the trouble he had caused. Mirror
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