Prince Harry's "Wild Lad" Persona "Died" When He Met Meghan Markle, Claims Royal Author

Well, he was 32...

Prince Harry and girlfriend Chelsy Davy attend a service of remembrance and thanksgiving at the Holy Trinity Church on May 5 2008 in Windsor.
(Image credit: Photo by Anwar Hussein / Getty)

Prince Harry was known for getting into trouble in his youth.

It's difficult to forget the time he decided to dress as a Nazi for a costume party, but there was also the time he went to rehab for weed (??), the time he got naked in Vegas, the handful of times he got into arguments with paparazzi, and the time he allegedly snorted vodka (??????). You can read more about his antics here if you so wish.

According to Valentine Low in his new book Courtiers, Harry and William's former private secretary at the time, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, was tasked with making sure Harry was doing OK and on the right track, so to speak, but it wasn't until the young royal met his now-wife Meghan Markle that Harry actually gave up on the party boy life. Which is... fair enough? He was 32 and ready to try something else, which sounds about right to me.

"The younger prince was a dashing figure, flying an Apache helicopter, and was heavily committed in the area of children’s health, with charities like WellChild. But he also used to be quite a wild lad," Low writes in Courtiers (via OK!).

"When Harry was young, it was easy to forgive him, his transgressions. But at what point does a wild lad become a seedy old roué? At the time, it was nothing to worry about: just something to keep an eye on."

Here's how things changed: "Eventually, of course, the problem would resolve itself, but not in a way that Lowther-Pinkerton or anyone else imagined," Low writes. "The wild lad died the day Harry met Meghan Markle."

The rest is history.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.