Inside Prince Harry's Las Vegas scandal after 'letting his family down' with naked photos
Harry spoke out in early 2013 about the imagesMost royal fans will remember the Las Vegas scandal that surrounded Prince Harry some years ago.
The now Duke of Sussex, 40, faced backlash in 2012 when he was pictured naked in a Las Vegas hotel room.
At the time, Harry spoke out and admitted he had let his family down. The duke also addressed the scandal in his tell-all 2023 memoir Spare.
Let’s go back to 2012, when the prince’s cheeky actions made headlines worldwide.
What happened with Prince Harry in Las Vegas?
In August of 2012, Prince Harry made the front page of newspapers after antics from a private holiday in Las Vegas emerged in saucy photos.
He was photographed with an unknown woman, naked whilst in a room at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. He was 27 at the time. Harry was also reportedly in a relationship with his then-girlfriend Cressida Bonas.
Apparently, he had been playing a game of strip billiards during a private party. TMZ published the photos and it wasn’t long before the images spread throughout American media.
However, the British press were reluctant to publish the pictures.
How the palace reacted to the Vegas scandal
St James’s Palace confirmed that Harry was in the photographs. They insisted he was a victim whose privacy had been invaded.
At the time, a statement read: “We have made our views on Prince Harry’s privacy known. Newspapers regulate themselves, so the publication of the photographs is ultimately a decision for editors to make.
“We have no further comment to make either on the publication of the photographs or on the story itself concerning Prince Harry’s private holiday in Las Vegas.”
The palace had reportedly contacted the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) to warn British publications about publishing the images.
The Sun eventually published the images, despite the warnings.
In a statement, The Sun said there was a “clear public interest in publishing the Harry pictures”. They also said that Harry had “compromised his own privacy”.
At the time of the photos being published, Prince Harry was preparing for his second deployment to Afghanistan.
A complaint was dropped by St James’s Palace on the grounds that it would be a distraction for Harry ahead of his deployment.
What did Prince Harry say about the naked Las Vegas photos?
In January of 2013, during his deployment, Prince Harry spoke out about the scandal.
He sat down for the interview just before he completed a four-month deployment to Afghanistan in his role as an Apache helicopter pilot.
Speaking from Camp Bastion, the main British military base in Afghanistan, Harry told BBC News: “At the end of the day I probably let myself down, I let my family down, I let other people down.
“But at the end of the day I was in a private area and there should have been a certain amount of privacy that one should expect.”
He added: “It was probably a classic example of me probably being too much Army and not enough prince. It’s a simple case of that.”
Hitting out at the press, the prince said: “Well, the papers knew I was going out to [Afghanistan] anyway, so the way I was treated from them, I don’t think is acceptable.”
Prince Harry details infamous Vegas trip in Spare
In his tell-all 2023 memoir Spare, Prince Harry shared more details of the infamous scandal. He explained that he had been drinking in the US city throughout the day.
He wrote that he then invited “four or five women who worked at the hotel to join us, along with two women they’d met at the blackjack tables”.
The Duke of Sussex said he then agreed to pay strip billiards with the women, which resulted in the photos being taken. One image showed Harry covering his modesty as the mystery woman stood next to him.
In Spare, the Prince Harry said his father King Charles was “gentle” on him after the Las Vegas photos emerged in the press.
Discussing the reason for the trip and his actions, Harry said he wanted to “seize the day”. This is because he had recently seen a traumatic incident where a polo player fell and almost died.
The reaction to Prince Harry’s Vegas pictures
Of course, the scandal sparked much reaction at the time. Politician Boris Johnson, who was the Mayor of London at the time, spoke out to defend Harry.
He said: “I think it’d be disgraceful if a chap wasn’t allowed to have a bit of fun in Las Vegas. The real scandal would be if you went all the way to Las Vegas and you didn’t misbehave in some trivial way.”
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Meanwhile, Dai Davies, former head of royal protection, spoke about the impact on the royal family.
He said: “I take the view the reputation of the royal family is about their whole reputation, and this has tarnished it. And no matter how we all like Harry – and indeed the esteem that the family has been held in the last year has gone up tremendously, and has to be applauded – but this kind of behaviour, either by him and those charged with protection, doesn’t do any favours to anyone in my opinion.”
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