New book's wild claim about Prince Harry's 'party' persona

A new book has claimed Prince Harry was becoming "seedy" before he began dating Meghan Markle, who changed him for the better.

Valentine Low, author of new book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, has claimed the Duke of Sussex's "wild party" boy persona died when he began dating Meghan, The Sun reports.

Prince Harry with champagne
A new book has made a wild claim about Prince Harry's 'party' boy persona and how Meghan Markle changed him. Photo: Getty

Harry was known to be quite the party boy in his younger years, with the now 38-year-old famously being photographed playing 'strip billiards' at a party in Las Vegas in 2012.

Low explains in the book that Harry's private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton tried to put both Harry and William on the right path before they became working royals.

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"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 Well Child. But he also used to be quite a wild lad," the author writes.

"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.

"Eventually, of course, the problem would resolve itself, but not in a way that Lowther-Pinkerton or anyone else imagined.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2017
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at one of their first public appearances together. Photo: Getty

"The wild lad died the day Harry met Meghan Markle."

Harry began dating Meghan in 2016 with the book also claiming she threatened to dump him if he didn't put out a statement about their relationship.

The book claims when Harry began facing "hordes of journalists" who were keen to dig into Meghan's life, he "became determined to protect" her.

"A source said: 'She was saying, "If you don’t put out a statement confirming I’m your girlfriend, I’m going to break up with you". Harry was in a panic'.

"Another source said: 'He was freaking out, saying, "She’s going to dump me"'.”

Harry opens up about infamous Vegas night

Prince Harry with Dax Shepard
Harry has previously spoken about that infamous night in Las Vegas on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast. Photo: Instagram/Armchair Expert

Harry has previously spoken about that infamous night in Las Vegas on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast.

"I'm really excited to meet you because, in full disclosure I'm the most ill-informed person on the royal family, at least in my circle," Dax told Harry. "You're the only one I ever knew and simply because you were in those awesome nude photos in Vegas. And I literally said to myself, 'This guy's a party!'"

"I'm sure, you're constantly looking for other people to go, sort of balance out your own behaviour, right?" Harry responded, with Dax adding, "It's relatable!"

"On top of that, I was like, 'God! This motherf***er's got a good body!' You are in tremendous shape."

"Okay, now it's getting weird," Harry laughed, before adding, "That was a few weeks before I went to Afghanistan."

"At least I wasn't running down the strip, stripping or naked," he added.

The pair then joked about how Dax has a calendar of naked men, with Harry joking, "Why wasn't I September?"

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