PRINCESS SAD AS SON ADMITS USING COCAINE

PRINCESS Michael of Kent yesterday voiced her disappointment at
disclosures that her son, Lord Frederick Windsor, had used cocaine.

The Princess said in a statement: "I brought my children up to be
anti-drugs. I am disappointed that he experimented in this way, but he
has assured me that he will not do it again, and I believe him."

Lord Frederick, 20, a history student at Magdalen College, Oxford, is
a cousin to the Queen and great-grandson of King George V. He has told
his mother that he experimented with the drug at a party in Fulham,
west London, three months ago.

He owned up after being confronted with the allegation by journalists
in New York, where he has spent the summer on work experience. He is
due to return home today.

The disclosure that Lord Frederick had taken cocaine comes months
after the disclosure that Camilla Parker Bowles's son, Tom, admitted
using the drug.

Cocaine has emerged as the fastest growing "drug of choice" among
20-year-olds, according to the British Crime Survey - with five per
cent admitting to using it regularly, compared to two per cent in 1996.

Lord Frederick, an Old Etonian, yesterday made his modelling debut in
a Sunday newspaper in a series of photographs taken by Mario Testino.

In one shot he wore a torn pink vest and in another he was clad in
motorcycling garb. Lord Frederick said he was unlikely to carry on
modelling. Of New York, he said: "It's great but it's a little
conservative compared to home."