Prince Harry’s awful week just keeps getting worse.
For it is now emerging that before Harry’s trip to Vegas, he travelled to Necker Island, the private island owned by Richard Branson, for a tequilla-fuelled pre-party.
Rather like that scene at the end of “The Hangover” another embarrassing picture has turned up – this time of Harry passed out drunk in the sand on Necker Island.
Harry must be wishing this picture had been deleted, like the ones in the film.
Instead, in an act of almost unbelievable naivety (and that's being kind) it appears that one of Harry’s pals, Arthur Landon, 30, one of the UK’s richest young men, posted the picture on facebook. The page had no privacy controls on it, and was not locked untill yesterday.
Sources say that Harry was a frequent poster on Landon's page, and would have known the pictures were available to anyone with an internet connection.
By a tremendous irony, Landon is also quoted in today’s Telegraph, railing about the ‘despicable girl’ who sold the naked pictures of Harry.
Mr Landon, 30, who inherited a £200m fortune from his late father, the arms dealer Brig Tim Landon, who is said to have helped organise a coup d’état in Oman, said: “I obviously think it is really despicable that someone would accept Prince Harry’s hospitality and then take these pictures. I know it has put a real dampener on everybody who was on that holiday.”
Mr Landon then added, “Some people have been hinting that it was one of his friends who took the pictures. But that is absolutely not true. None of his friends would ever do that. We are really careful.”
But not careful or intelligent enough, apparently, to refrain from posting images of the third-in-line to the throne asleep on the sand.
Although Landon’s account is restricted, the pictures have now inevitably made their way out of his controlled area and are published today in that most respectable of UK papers, the Daily Telegraph.
Landon captioned the picture of sleeping Harry, “The perfect start…”
In another snap Landon, 30, who inherited more than £200 million on the death of his father in 2007, offered friends a look inside his suitcase as he packed for his trip. The contents included a purple glass bong (ouch) and a gas mask.
The accompanying caption read: “2x flip flops, 3x board shorts, 8x fancy dress outfits, 1x toothbrush, 1x toothpaste, 10x awesomeness…” he wrote. “Let the good times roll, let em roll, let em roll!!!”
The trip to Necker Island was to celebrate Branson’s son Sam’s 27th birthday.
The prince was accompanied by blonde Cressida Bonas, the epically-named beauty whom he was spotted making out with earlier this month.
Miss Bonas, 23, a Leeds University graduate and the daughter of 1960s cover girl Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, uploaded a photograph of herself wearing a bright yellow bikini to, neon pink shorts, and a matching pink wig.
She appears to be sitting in a beach bar with a friend, and has the word “Sam” daubed on her arm in pink paint, illustrated with a pink heart.
However, it was boys-only by the time the group arrived in Vegas for the main action.
The only question is: can this get any worse for Harry?
Well, yes; several news outlets are now speculating that there may be more pictures to come from Vegas, which is swarming with British tabloid news reporters.