Prince Harry has spoken candidly about her experiences with drugs in the past – and according to one royal expert, he spiralled in 2000 following William’s departure from Eton
Prince Harry struggled without his brother by his side, and would get “stoned to excess” while left to his own devices in 2000, according to a royal expert.
In his 2020 book Battle of Brothers, royal historian Robert Lacey claimed that the Prince, then 15, spiralled following 18-year-old William’s graduation from Eton and subsequent trip to Belize for a gap-year adventure – leaving his younger brother at home. “Lonely and left to his own devices, Harry began getting stoned to excess, continuing his pot-smoking throughout William’s absence in 2001, until someone — a member of the Highgrove staff, it is thought — told Prince Charles what was going on,” Lacey wrote.
Harry himself revealed that he started smoking marijuana while at Eton and, according to the author, had already earned himself the nickname ‘Hash Harry’ from his school mates “on account of the smoky aroma that often emanated from his room”. But things escalated further following his big brother’s departure. In his tell-all memoir Spare, and interviews promoting it, Harry spoke in detail for the first time about his recreational use of cocaine, magic mushrooms and marijuana, as well as psychedelics such as ayahuasca as a form of therapy. Writing about his introduction to marijuana when he was a schoolboy at the prestigious Eton College near Windsor Castle, Harry said: “I don’t remember how we got the stuff. One of my mates, I expect. Or maybe several.
“Whenever we found ourselves in possession, we’d commandeer a tiny upstairs bathroom, wherein we’d implement a surprisingly thoughtful, orderly assembly line. Smoker straddled the loo beside the window, second boy leaned against the basin, third and fourth boys sat in the empty bath, legs dangling over, waiting their turns. You’d take a hit or two, blow the smoke out of the window, then move on to the next station, in rotation, until the spliff was gone. Then we’d all head to one of our rooms and giggle ourselves sick over an episode or two of a new show. Family Guy.”
He also spoke about his experiences with cocaine: “At someone’s country house, during a shooting weekend, I’d been offered a line, and I’d done a few more since. It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal. Feel. Different. I was a deeply unhappy 17-year-old boy willing to try almost anything that would alter the status quo. That was what I told myself anyway.”
