Prince Harry escaped down Kensington High Street after sneaking off as a child
When the Duke was around five or six years old, he playfully used a police radio given to him by Inspector Wharfe to excitedly inform the officer of his whereabouts.
Prince Harry once reportedly snuck out of the confines of Kensington Palace and was standing outside a record shop on the nearby high street. This was the moment that left royal protection officer Ken Wharfe feeling as though his career was about to end.
When the Duke was around five or six years old, he playfully used a police radio given to him by Inspector Wharfe to excitedly inform the officer of his whereabouts.
Wharfe later recounted that retrieving Harry was the "quickest" dash of his career.
This wasn’t the first time Harry, who turns 40 today, had caused a stir.
He once hit his brother, Prince William, with a snooker cue, and on another occasion, he forged his nanny’s handwriting to try and convince the family chef to make him pizza for dinner.
Inspector Wharfe began overseeing the security of Prince William and Prince Harry in 1986 and was appointed as a bodyguard to their mother, Princess Diana, the following year.
Prince Harry's Palace escape happened after he approached Wharfe, looking for some fun, fueled by his fascination with soldiers.
Describing him as a “real tearaway” on GB News, Inspector Wharfe said: “I nearly lost my job once over him. Because he was trying to relieve a sense of boredom.
“He came into my office, said, ‘Ken, I need to do something.’
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"I said, ‘Ok, look, here's a radio, go up to the garage, speak to the chauffer, make a phone call and I'll give you another job'.
“So we did that four or five times, gone to the chef, gone to the flower seller whatever, in the end he said, 'can I go down and see Aunt Jane?', which was Diana's sister, just outside the front of Kensington Palace."
Inspector Wharfe checked with Lady Jane Fellowes and then allowed Harry to go and see her. She told the policeman that she would call him when he was on his way back.
He continued: “About 20 minutes later, I rang Jane and said, "have you sent Harry back yet?”
She said, "I sent him back ten minutes ago. A slight panic set in. So I called him up on the radio. I said, 'Harry, it's Ken, where are you?'"
He said that Harry replied, "Just a moment, I'm outside Tower Records".
"It was the quickest run back I had ever done. But anyway, there he was this small kid stood outside Tower Records with my radio," he added.
The policeman remained in royal employment until late 1993, after Prince Charles and Diana had separated. Inspector Wharfe is the author of Diana - Closely Guarded Secret and Guarding Diana - Protecting the Princess around the World.
