PRINCE PRAISED FOR STANCE ON HARRY'S DRUG USE

The Prince of Wales won praise from the prime minister and drug support
groups last night for his handling of cannabis smoking and over-drinking by
his 17-year-old son Prince Harry. St James's Palace admitted that the
prince had been spoken to by his father after the incidents at the family
home at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and a nearby pub during his school
holidays from Eton last summer. He subsequently paid a day visit to a drugs
rehabilitation unit in south London to speak to drug addicts.

Tony Blair, whose eldest son Euan was once caught underage drinking,
acknowledged it was a difficult situation, saying: "I know this myself."

"I think the way that 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," Mr Blair told
BBC1's Breakfast With Frost.

A terse statement from the palace said: "This is a serious matter which was
resolved within the family and is now in the past and closed."

It was alleged that the prince, whose father and elder brother Prince
William were away at the time, frequented a local pub, the Rattlebone Inn
in Sherston, where he got drunk and was once banned for calling the French
chef "a fucking frog".

He was also said to have invited friends back to Highgrove for further
drinking and cannabis smoking sessions. It was the latter, in a converted
basement called Club H, which apparently led to him being caught when staff
smelled the whiff of cannabis.

The prince's bodyguard at the time - who has not been named - is reportedly
keeping his job, his role ostensibly to ensure Harry's safety, not to make
moral judgments about his behaviour.

Harry was 13 when his mother, Princess Diana, was killed, an event which is
said to have deeply traumatised him. Some royal sources said yesterday that
last summer's events were not the first time that he had been seen drinking
under age or smoking and may not have been the last, despite the palace's
statement.

The prince is third in line to the throne but will go down the list if
Prince William marries and has children. He will have to confront the
problem other junior royals have faced: what to do with his life after he
leaves school in 18 months' time.

Prince Charles's apparently non-confrontational approach to the problem,
which included arranging the visit to the Featherstone Lodge rehabilitation
unit, won praise from drugs organisations. The prince is patron of several
such groups and paid an official visit to Featherstone Lodge to see its
work three years ago.

Royal biographer Penny Junor said it had been widely known for some time by
those associated with Prince Harry that he drank "a lot" under age.

The director of the Press Complaints Commission, Guy Black, said the
revelations did not mean the media were now free to intrude on Prince
Harry's private life. But he added: "It is important to underline that this
was an exceptional matter of public interest."

Peter Martin, chief executive of Addaction, a drug and alcohol treatment
agency, said: "It seems that the Prince of Wales has acted with deep
sensitivity and very quickly, which is exactly what is needed."