In his autobiography Spare, Prince Harry revealed that when he was 17, he “took cocaine” during a shooting weekend in the summer of 2002.
The Duke went on to say that this was not a one-time occurrence and that he had taken a “few lines” on other occasions, candidly describing his experience with the drug.
He stated: “It didn’t make me as happy as it seemed to make others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main goal: to feel different.
“I was a 17-year-old willing to try almost anything that would upset the established order,” Prince Harry wrote.
“At least that was what I was trying to convince myself of.”
In his autobiography, Prince Harry also discusses his feelings about his father, Charles, moving on with Camilla.
The Duke of Sussex said: “He had asked my grandmother for permission and she had grudgingly granted it, according to what was published.
“In spite of Willy and I begging him not to, my father proceeded with his plan.
“We recognised that he was going to be with the woman he always loved, the woman that fate had in store for him from the beginning.”
Harry continued: “I knew without a doubt that this marriage would drive our father away from us not in a literal sense, not in a deliberate or malicious way, but still . . . I would push him away.”
“I sensed that Willy and I would see our father less and that made me feel mixed emotions.
“I wasn’t happy about losing a second parent and I didn’t know how to feel about having a step-mother who I thought had sacrificed me on her public relations altar.”
“However I saw my father smile and it was difficult to deny it and even more difficult to deny the cause: Camilla.
“What I wanted in spite of everything was my father to be happy. Oddly enough I wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she was less dangerous when she was happy?”
He added: “I remember wondering just before tea if she would be cruel to me, if she would be like all the evil step-mothers of fairytales, but she wasn’t. Like Willy, that made me feel really grateful.”