Prince Harry was once scolded by a butler for throwing girls fully clothed into a swimming pool during a raucous teenage party at one of Britain's largest country houses, a senior aristocrat has revealed in his new memoir.
Henry Somerset, the 12th duke of Beaufort has referenced Harry's teenage antics in his memoir due to be released 11 months after the prince published his own bombshell-packed book, Spare.
Beaufort is custodian of the historic Badminton House in Gloucestershire, located just five miles from King Charles III's country retreat, Highgrove, where Harry and Prince William spent much of their childhoods.
In a serialized extract from his memoir The Unlikely Duke published in the Daily Mail, Beaufort revealed that Harry had been invited to attend the 18th birthday party of his niece which presented him with the awkward possibility of having to reprimand the fifth in line to the throne.
"One of the guests was Prince Harry, 16 at the time, who'd come over from Highgrove," he wrote. "Initially he seemed to blend in quite well, but he suddenly became possessed, lifted a girl over his shoulder, walked over to the swimming pool and hurled her in.
"There was a predictable outburst of laughter from the other guests and Harry, pleased with this reaction, continued to indulge himself by repeating the performance with several other girls, one after another."
As the prince threw more girls into the pool, the duke wrote that he grew concerned about its effect on the party.
"The problem was that none of the girls had brought other clothes to change into and, had Harry's performance continued, the party would have been ruined," he said, adding that he was rescued by his father's butler from any embarrassment.
"A bit overawed by his royal status, I was rather slow to stop him, so it was lucky that Steve—butler to my father, [then] the Duke of Beaufort—was also at the party. In no uncertain terms, Steve told Harry to stop at once," he wrote.
As the girls were taken into Badminton House to change into borrowed clothes, Beaufort wrote that his brother, Lord John Somerset referenced Harry's position as the "spare" to Prince William as the "heir" to the throne. "We gotta be real careful that nothin' happens to that boy's older brother...real careful," he said.
Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry via email for comment.
In his own memoir, Harry opened up about some of his partygoing days as a teenager, in addition to spending time in and around Highgrove with his brother and father.
Members of the royal family adopted a blanket "no comment" position when it came to Spare and the claims made by Harry within it.
The book earned him both praise and criticism, as well as a world record for the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time, with readers purchasing more than 1.4 million copies across all formats in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada on its January 10 publication day.
The Unlikely Duke by Harry Beaufort is published in Britain by Hatchett Books on November 16. RRP: £25 ($30). U.S. version by Hodder & Stoughton from April 30, 2024.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
