A drunken sword accident? A helicopter borrowed for a bachelor party?
Even the wildest college party’s got nothing on these royals.
We'll have to dedicate a number of sections to Prince Harry, because while the married man and
father of two is a lot calmer these days, his party years were something else. We all have
moments in our lives that we're not particularly proud of, and it might be fair to say that an
altercation in 2004 is Prince Harry's regretful moment. As reported by The Guardian at the time,
Harry was partying at a London nightclub when things took a turn for the worse.
As it happened, Harry — who had a pretty invasive paparazzi following at that point,
and was still just 20 years old — got into it with a photographer while leaving the club,
who ultimately got hit in the face.
Photographer Chris Uncle, who was following Harry at the time,
recounted that when the prince was leaving the Pangaea nightclub in London,
he got into a vehicle outside — and that's when things got messy. As Uncle was trying
to snap a photo, Harry reportedly "lashed out." The photographer claimed,
"Suddenly he burst out the car and lunged towards me as I was still taking pictures."
Apparently, the altercation was severe enough that Uncle reported
what had happened to the police and even thought about filing a formal complaint.
Harry garnered a reputation as the "party prince" even before that,
engaging in some pretty questionable behavior while he was still in secondary school.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl recalled that when she first met the young prince,
he should've been prioritizing his school work, but instead he was hitting the club scene.
During Prince Harry's partying years,
things got a little too out of control for Prince Charles' taste, and things escalated
when a then-16-year-old Harry was drinking alcohol and smoking weed on a regular basis.
Charles was having none of that, and arranged for Harry to be taken to the Featherstone Lodge
rehabilitation center to get an idea of what kind of impact drug use can have on peoples' lives.
Shortly after, the palace released a statement
about Harry's behavior and the visit to rehab, saying,
"This is a serious matter which was resolved within the family and is now closed."
You'd truly have to be living under a rock to not know about Prince Harry's now-fractured
relationship with the royal family, and the married dad of two is now out in California
living his best life. A huge element of that move has come in the form of
Harry's openness and candor when speaking about his life in the royal establishment.
He's shared both in his tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey and in the docu-series,
"The Me You Can't See," that royal life is not nearly as ideal as people may think it is.
Specifically speaking about his party days in the docu-series,
Harry shared that his wild years were symptomatic of his trauma, recounting that his use of drugs
and alcohol were his attempts to numb the pain that stemmed from his mother's death.
"I was willing to drink. I was willing to take drugs. I was willing to try and do
the things that made me feel less like I was feeling."
Princess Beatrice once got into a bit of a sticky situation with famed singer
Ed Sheeran at a party, and his manager Stuart Camp
broke his silence on the matter in an interview on the "Straight Up" podcast.
A reportedly very drunk Beatrice decided to
"knight" singer James Blunt, using a sword to tap him on the shoulders. But,
sharp objects and alcohol never mix well, and Beatrice's swing clipped Sheeran across the face.
For his part, Sheeran stayed quiet on the matter,
telling host Graham Norton during his talk show that he didn't feel he could speak on the matter.
"It was James Blunt. It was James Blunt trying to get his pop career back."
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie seem to be a package deal, but they weren't aligned when
it came to intoxication levels during a wild night in 2009. As noted by the Daily Mail,
a Halloween-centered party hosted in West London was well underway when the police were called due
to the noise — it was about 1:30 a.m., and the officers on the scene told the hosts that they
needed to call it a night. Still, about 100 people stayed behind, and about two hours later, Beatrice
and Eugenie walked in the front door with their security detail in tow. The Daily Mail noted that
the princesses stayed until about 5 a.m., reveling in the wild party that simply wouldn't die down.
Beatrice steered clear of alcohol, but Eugenie partied hard. Contributing to
the partying were about 45 bottles of vodka, as well as an additional $600
spent having alcohol delivered after the stock was running low.
There must've been something in the air in 2009, because Princess Eugenie was back in
the headlines when an evening out at a lap dancing club made waves. Not only
was the look a little off-color for the royal, but taxpayers soon became enraged
that their money — funneled into the princess' security detail — was used for such an evening.
It's reported that over £500,000 of taxpayer money, or about $600,000 US dollars,
was spent on protecting Eugenie and her sister, Princess Beatrice, per year.
We've all seen photos of politicians and public figures wearing costumes that really
aren't politically correct (we're thinking of you, Justin Trudeau, and your "Arabian Nights"
Halloween costume dating back to 2001), and Harry can certainly be included on that list.
The young prince was seen wearing a choice armband to a costume party in 2005 — and
before you think it was something like the armband Michael Jackson used to don,
you might want to wind the clock back a few more decades. Harry's armband, unfortunately,
had the Swastika on it, the well-known Nazi symbol that continues to stand for hatred,
racism, and oppression to this very day. It was not a good look for the prince,
and royal expert Katie Nicholl weighed in on the choice. According to her statement to Honey,
"That was an episode that happened when he was fully protected by the royal machine
and yet it still happened, It was a grave error of judgement
and one wonders why there wasn't someone looking out for him
telling him: 'Actually, sir, this is a really bad decision — don't wear the Nazi costume.'"
Don't think that Prince Harry is the only royal boy who got up to some trouble in his younger
years. As it happens, his older brother Prince William, also got into some rougher territory
when it came to partying — and got into some significant trouble over one such instance.
As noted by the Standard, William served in the Royal Air Force and gained the ability to
fly planes— ahead of his cousin's bachelor party. When the stag weekend was upon him,
William flew a Royal Air Force helicopter — worth about $12.3 million — to said weekend,
and picked up his younger brother on the way.
Trying to cover their own potential press nightmare, the Royal Air Force publicly stated
that the flight was part of William's training, as he did require hours flying over water.
Don't think that just the more modern royals have gotten up to some wild partying and
truly bizarre experiences. King Edward VII's habits were certainly...
unorthodox. As noted by Curbed, the royal had a very specifically designed chair to help him...
get positioned. Known as the "love chair," Edward's threesome throne was specifically
designed for his larger stature, and it still throws us a little bit for a loop to think about.
King Edward VII was Queen Victoria's son, and she was known for being incredibly prudish,
often sending her son to France so he could sow his wild oats.
We can't exactly imagine what it'd be like to marry into the royal family, but it's
safe to say that it might be a more stressful than not kind of experience. Mike Tindall,
husband of Princess Anne's daughter Zara, may have been feeling the pressure during
his bachelor weekend, because he definitely went a little crazy while partying in Florida.
As noted by the Daily Mail, Mike had a "marathon" of events — nightclubs, bars, hotels,
limousines — the works, and racked up quite a tab while tearing through the Sunshine State. During
one night on the town, Mike and his crew managed to spend $20,000 at one bar alone, consuming
1,500 units of alcohol while doing so. From there, the gang went to South Beach where they continued
to live lavishly, flirting with pretty women and ordering drink after drink while doing so.