Prince Harry attended the prestigious Eton College from 1998 until 2003 – and during his time there, he earned himself a telling nickname from his fellow students

Prince Harry has made no secret of his past drug use – and it’s claimed earned him an unfortunate nickname during his time at Eton College.

Harry attended the prestigious all-boys boarding school in Berkshire from 1998 until 2003, leaving with two A-Levels, achieving a grade B in art and D in geography. And during his time at Eton, he was given a telling moniker. In his 2020 book Brothers of Brothers, acclaimed royal historian Robert Lacey revealed that the Prince was “known as ‘Hash Harry’ at Eton, on account of the smoky aroma that often emanated from his room”.

Harry himself opened up about his drug use in his tell-all memoir, Spare, and spoke about his introduction to marijuana at Eton. “I don’t remember how we got the stuff. One of my mates, I expect,” he said. “Or maybe several. Whenever we found ourselves in possession, we’d commandeer a tiny upstairs bathroom, wherein we’d implement a surprisingly thoughtful, orderly assembly line. Smoker straddled the loo beside the window, second boy leaned against the basin, third and fourth boys sat in the empty bath, legs dangling over, waiting their turns.

“You’d take a hit or two, blow the smoke out of the window, then move on to the next station, in rotation, until the spliff was gone. Then we’d all head to one of our rooms and giggle ourselves sick over an episode or two of a new show. Family Guy. I felt an inexplicable bond with Stewie, prophet without honour.” He also revealed he later turned to cocaine to deal with mental and emotional anguish still impacting him from the death of his mother.

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“Of course…I had been doing cocaine around this time. At someone’s country house, during a shooting weekend, I’d been offered a line, and I’d done a few more since. It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal. Feel. Different. I was a deeply unhappy 17-year-old boy willing to try almost anything that would alter the status quo. That was what I told myself anyway.”

Harry’s drug confessions in Spare have landed him in hot water. Harry and his wife Meghan relocated to the States in 2020 following their decision to quit the royal family. But following the publication of his tell-all book, questions were raised about the Prince’s visa application – in particular, whether he had declared his drug use in his official paperwork.

The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, is in the process of suing the US government to gain access to Prince Harry’s immigration records, stating that it is “a case about whether the government provides special treatment for high profile celebrities”. The foundation is referring to the paperwork the prince filed when he landed in the US on 14 March, 2020. All applicants are asked questions about their drug-taking history while filling out the form.

Reflecting on the row, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond previously told OK! : “Harry must regret having been so frank about drugs in his book. It really wasn’t a necessary part of the narrative although I understand that he was trying to explain his mental health issues. But admissions like that can have consequences and, right now, he must be feeling the heat.”