While Prince Harry may no longer be a working royal anymore, he did spend the first 35 years of his life living the life of a typical prince. Although he may have lived in Palace grounds and had staff to attend to his needs, including a nanny, Harry was always a cheeky little boy and was never too dissimilar from other children his age. This means that while Harry’s life may have been more restricted as a result of his royal role, making it more difficult for him to go to the park like other children, he did still love an adventure.
This meant that sometimes as a young boy, Harry, now 40, did bend the rules, and even escaped from Kensington Palace one day, making his way to the nearby Kensington High Street before being found.
This story was once recalled by the family’s former protection officer Ken Wharfe, who once said that Harry would often approach him dressed in military fatigues as a child.
As reported by MyLondon, Wharfe said the prince would ask for missions to complete, with the protection officer giving him a two-way radio as part of this game.
The officer then revealed that he once set Harry a task, which the prince took quite literally, escaping from the walls of Kensington Palace to the local High Street.
Once three, Harry used the radio to tell Wharfe “mission accomplished”, It was only then that Wharfe realised the prince had taken the game very literally, recalling how his feet “didn’t touch the ground” once he realised where Harry was.
While it is not known how Princess Diana reacted to Harry’s escaping act at the time, Prince Harry did once reveal that Diana encouraged him to embrace his naughty side.
In the documentary, ‘Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy’ commemorating the 20th anniversary of her death in a Paris car crash in 1997, Harry said: “Our mother was a total kid, through and through…One of her mottos to me was ‘you can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught.’”
