‘The story appeared in the papers and wasn’t denied by senior royal officials,’ Levin explained.
‘Instead they confirmed that Harry had subsequently spent a day at Featherstone Lodge rehabilitation centre in Peckham, South London.
‘It was later revealed that he had indeed been to the centre, but before the story of his drug-taking appeared in the newspapers. The two events were unrelated but the trip to the centre was used to give a positive slant to the scandal.’
Incredibly, the general public weren’t too upset with the young prince, in fact, Levin recalled how, ‘The public was largely sympathetic: the general belief was that lots of adolescents go off the rails during the tricky time of growing up.
‘Harry confessed that he had experimented with cannabis and drank to excess, and apologised for the trouble he had caused.’
Still, Queen Elizabeth II was ‘dismayed’ by her grandson’s behaviour.
