'WILD TIMES WITH HARRY' AT LOCAL PUB

Charles Praised Over Handling Of 'Every Parent's Nightmare'

LONDON -- The British media are abuzz with revelations that Prince Harry,
the 17-year-old son of Prince Charles, has not only drunk heavily at
parties but also smoked marijuana.

But what could have been a major embarrassment to the royal family may have
been averted by Prince Charles' handling of his wayward youngest son.

The story was first reported yesterday by the tabloid News of the World
under the headline "Harry's Drug Shame," and has been all but confirmed by
the royal family.

It dominated British print, radio and television news reports all day, but
much of the coverage was full of praise for Prince Charles' decision to
make his son visit a drug rehabilitation clinic to see the effects of
addiction first-hand.

Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, yesterday praised Charles for the
way he responded to Prince Harry's confession that he had smoked cannabis
on several occasions and indulged in underage drinking.

"The way Prince Charles and the royal family have handled it is absolutely
right and they have done it in a very responsible and, as you would expect,
in a very sensitive way for their child," he told the BBC.

The head of the country's largest drug and alcohol treatment centre said
the Prince had faced "every parent's nightmare" but handled it very well.

"The Prince of Wales has acted with deep sensitivity and very quickly,
which is exactly what is needed," said Peter Martin, the chief executive of
Addaction.

And the Department of Education said Prince Charles "set an extremely good
example."

For the past two years, Prince Harry has steadily been earning himself a
reputation as a boisterous adolescent.

The shy introverted 13-year-old, trying to cope with the premature death of
his mother, is now a tall, athletic young man, determined to live his life
to the full.

The late Diana, Princess of Wales, once said of her younger son: "Harry's
the naughty one, just like me."

The legal drinking age is 18 in Britain.

Prince Harry reportedly started drinking and smoking cigarettes even before
his teens, while on a Greek island-hopping holiday with friends. During
such holidays, it has been claimed the young people were left to their own
devices, and there are reports of wild parties with vodka and tequila.

The first hint that Prince Harry was determined to flout the rules came in
Spain last August when he attended a polo meet on the Costa del Sol and was
caught smoking and drinking in nightclubs.

He is said to have disgraced himself two years ago during a shooting party
at the Duke of Westminster's estate in Cheshire, reportedly getting so
drunk that he was sick across the bar in the Duke's home.

There are other allegations that he was seen throwing bottles and acting in
a drunken fashion during a surfing holiday at Rock in Cornwall.

At his father's 50th birthday party when Prince Harry, then only 14, and
his brother staged a joke Full Monty strip, he is said to have been so
tipsy that he did not just take off a few garments - as he was supposed to
do - but stripped off the whole lot before running naked around the guests.

Prince Harry's experimentation with marijuana began last summer when he
found himself alone at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales' home in Gloucestershire.

His elder brother, Prince William, was away travelling and his father, who
normally would stay at Highgrove when his younger son was on holiday from
Eton College, was away on business. Thus Prince Harry often found himself
alone and was encouraged to invite local friends to visit.

The Prince had already been a regular underage drinker at the Rattlebone
Inn, a 16th-century pub in the nearby village of Sherston.

And the police officers who were guarding him, although aware their young
charge was drinking illegally, would use their discretion. Prince Charles
has always tried to allow his sons some freedom and as long as there was no
security risk, his bodyguards would usually look the other way when he
drank with his friends.

Sometimes it got out of hand. In January last year Prince Harry found
himself barred from the pub after rough-housing with two friends, with whom
he had been playing pool.

When the Prince, who had been drinking, was asked to leave by the manager,
Fran ois Ortet, he allegedly called him "a f---ing frog."

By June, he was back drinking there with new-found friends, with whom he
attended parties and occasionally invited back to Highgrove.

There, in a room in the cellars set aside for the private use of the two
young Princes -- which Prince Harry calls Club H -- he would party into the
early hours. Club H is said to have a sound system and well-stocked bar.

It was during a private party in nearby Tetbury that the young Prince is
said to have been introduced to marijuana by one of those friends.

By now, Prince Harry was gaining a local reputation. One regular at the
Rattlebone Inn, David Bragg, 53, said: "There have been some wild times
with Harry here. You ask anyone around here. Unless they're being very
loyal, they'll agree."

He added that many young women came to the pub to "try to catch his eye.
I've seen him crawl out of barns here covered in straw."

Meanwhile, senior staff at Highgrove noticed the strong and distinctive
smell of marijuana and informed Prince Charles.

A family friend told the News of the World that Prince Charles was very calm.

"He did not confront Harry aggressively, but sat him down and asked him to
tell the truth. Harry immediately confirmed that in the past two months
he'd been smoking cannabis on several occasions, that he'd brought friends
back to Highgrove parties and that he'd been drinking a lot."

"Although Charles didn't scream and shout at Harry, he did gently question
him asking, 'Are these really the right people to be hanging around with?
Are these really the right things for you to be doing at 16 in your
position?' Harry was very mature about it and quickly realized the error of
his ways."

Prince Charles is said to have then asked Prince William to suggest to his
brother that he should visit Featherstone Lodge, a drug rehabilitation
centre in south London.

Prince Charles is a patron of the drugs charity Phoenix House, which runs
the centre, and was familiar with its work.

According to Bill Puddicombe, chief executive of Phoenix House, Prince
Harry spent just two hours there, accompanied by Mark Dyer, a friend and
aide to both of the young Princes.

"The visit was at the request of the Prince of Wales. As we understood, it
was an opportunity for the Prince of Wales to teach Prince Harry about our
work and the consequences of taking drugs," Mr. Puddicombe said yesterday.

"He came for a couple of hours on a day in late summer and talked to
several people in recovery -- heroin and cocaine addicts mostly. They told
him what had happened in their lives, which must have been quite harrowing
for him."

Mr. Puddicombe said Prince Harry had been friendly and relaxed, and the
residents had responded well to him. "I spoke to the Prince in November and
was pleased to hear that Harry had enjoyed his visit and learned a lot."

During his brief visit, Prince Harry was reportedly given a former heroin
addict as a guide.

Prince Harry apparently had a long talk with his father and brother
afterwards and Prince Charles is said to believe that his son's flirtation
with cannabis "is a normal part of teenage experimentation."

Prince Charles' office at St. James's Palace said in a statement: "This was
a serious matter which was resolved within the family and is now in the
past and closed."

However Prince Harry's headmaster at Eton has been alerted by Prince
Charles, and his weekend passes from the private college were immediately
limited.

Prince Harry was instructed to spend the entire Christmas break with his
brother and father and is said not to have touched drugs since his father
confronted him.

Prince William is said to be very anti-drugs. "William is such a steadying
influence," the family friend said. "The two of them have had detailed
discussions and Harry has changed his ways.

"He has a lot to be thankful for. If his brother and his father didn't care
so much about him, there might well have been a different end to this story."