"HARRY? WELL, Harry is just Harry," she said. "He is a spirit unto himself. He's open and affectionate, but doesn't like being told what to do by anyone."
That was the opinion of one of his friends, 15 years ago. Since then his Army training has curbed his recalcitrant nature, but Prince Harry still loves to play the fool. He was the naughty boy who climbed on to the roof of Kensington Palace and pelted his police officer with snowballs; swallowed a goldfish from the table display at the wedding of Tiggy Pettifer, his nanny; and was sick behind the wall of a pub at the teenage hotspot Rock in Cornwall.
Prince Harry's excesses are - and always have been - part of his character, as is his easy-going attitude that makes him approachable and such a valuable addition to the modern Royal family.
He is brave as a lion, witty and amusing and full of charm, but as well as these Diana-like attributes he appears to have the occasional appalling lapses of judgment. Remember the fancy dress party when he chose to wear a Nazi uniform in 2005 just a fortnight before the Queen was due to lead the Holocaust memorial ceremonies? Then there was the nightclub brawl when he hit out at a photographer the year before; and his racist remarks recorded in 2006 when he called an Asian army colleague a "Paki".
Now photographs of the naked Prince have been circulated around the world after he invited a group of intoxicated girls to his Vegas hotel suite where they played a game that involved removing an article of clothing every time they failed to pot a billiard ball. Harry had only just met the girls over cocktails, and had no real idea who they were.
Harry, being Harry, got naked quickly and appeared not to notice - or care - that he was being photographed, which is when the real trouble began. Despite the presence of two police protection officers, no one was asked to surrender their mobile phones as is normally the case when a senior Royal is off duty at a private party. Within 48 hours, the pictures were on the internet and Harry was on the run.
He and a group of mates had arrived in Vegas from an alcohol-fuelled week celebrating the 27th birthday of Sam Branson, the son of Virgin tycoon Sir Richard, on the private Caribbean island of Necker. Amongst the island group was Harry's most recent girlfriend, 23 year-old Cressida Bonas, whose half sister, Isabella, is engaged to Sam Branson.
No girls were invited on the Vegas trip, however, and Harry is known to be quite the gentleman around his female social peers. He would not expect any of them, especially one as gentle and lovely as former Leeds University student Cressie, to endure a boy's weekend in Vegas. Sin City's infamous booze-sozzled all-day pool parties where cocktails are served by waitresses with six-inch stilettos, tiny bikinis and pneumatic boobs are strictly for the boys.
Surprisingly, perhaps, Harry has so far received little public criticism for his naked antics. He was, after all, a single young man having fun in what he imagined were private circumstances. The outside world has made a few rumbles of disapproval, but has not branded him as a lout - just a character who wants to be one of the lads and have a bit of fun.
It was all very different when, at the age of 17, Harry was lambasted for his under-age drinking, and at his father's insistence spent a high-profile day in a rehabilitation clinic to see for himself the effects of excessive booze and drugs.
Harry had fallen in with a wild, drinking, partying crowd at the local pubs near Highgrove in Gloucestershire. Prince Charles was either unaware or unsure how to prevent this until it was too late - when Harry experimented with cannabis and was caught.
Prince Charles prided himself on trying not to, in his words, "enforce the unenforceable", but instead reasoned with Harry by talking and explaining.
Despite his teenage promises, Harry has never been able to resist being at the centre of whatever action is going on. Throughout his twenties, Harry's drinking pranks have made headlines. He has a small group of loyal devotees with whom he hangs out. Most of them are school friends such as 25-year-old Tom Inskip, a banker, and Tom Van Straubenzee, 28, a City broker. They form a boozy social set - all with plenty of money and not quite of a marrying age just yet. And they would all fall on their swords rather than betray Harry.
Coupled with the drinking is, of course, the girls. It is fair to say Harry has a penchant for blondes, with Chelsy Davy - whose gutsiness and honesty was much admired by the Palace - very much the template. Since they split following William and Kate's wedding, after dating for six years, he has been linked with a number of girls, most recently Cressie. Like his friends, there is no indication that he has any intention of settling down just yet.
There are a couple of steadying influences in Harry's life, not least his brother, but the two don't socialise as much as they used to. Then there is Mark Dyer, the former royal equerry, who was a guiding influence for both William and Harry during their teenage years. But he, too, is now married and not as present in Harry's world. Tellingly, the only person Harry would listen to growing up was his nanny, Tiggy, now a married mother-of-two living in rural Wales. It seems it has always been hard to tell Harry what to do.
To me, Harry's playboy ways are about his freedom - or lack of it. He carries a heavy burden. He is a young man with raw energy; an Apache helicopter pilot, possibly about to be deployed in an arena of war. He is also a Prince of the blood with the country's pride riding on his shoulders as he represents his grandmother, the Queen, as he has done recently.
But unlike his uncle Prince Andrew, who went from hero to zero after fighting in the Falkland war, Harry does not see himself as looking for a role. He is happy to submerge himself in the camaraderie and protection of his Army life and allow his elder brother to do the "Prince" bit.
Harry is Harry, and although his constant high jinks hurt him rather than anyone else, he will not change, and his playboy ways show no signs of abating. He appears to see royal life as a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and will therefore enjoy it as much as he can.
Harry fails to realise that with his position - which comes with great privilege - there is also a great responsibility. He has to sharpen up and grow up. He may not want to be a prince, but that is what he is.
Ingrid Seward is Editor in Chief of Majesty magazine and biographer of William and Harry. Her latest book The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is available through the magazine
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