Prince Harry branded a 'nuisance' as a child 'turning bath water red' to scare bodyguard
Prince Harry branded a 'nuisance' as a child 'turning bath water red' to scare bodyguard
Niti MajethiaSun, August 9, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC
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Harry and William enjoyed good childhoods in the Palace (Image: Tim Graham/Getty Images)
Before he became one of the world's most scrutinized royals, Prince Harry was just a mischievous young boy whose everyday moments were heavily influenced by Princess Diana, according to her former personal protection officer, Ken Wharfe.
Wharfe was the bodyguard to princes William and Harry from 1986 and became Princess Diana's personal protection officer in 1988. He stopped working for Princess Diana in 1993 but continued with the Royal Protection Squad until his retirement in 2002.
In an exclusive interview with The Express U.S., Wharfe recalled how Harry and William's childhoods offered rare glimpses of normalcy despite life behind palace walls. Wharfe also disclosed that Princess Diana broke royal protocol when dealing with her Kensington Palace staff.
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The royal insider claimed Prince Harry and Prince William were naughty and mischevous young boys (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The source noted that the boys "enjoyed a very happy childhood in a huge nursery."
"They had great fun. Their friends were always coming and going, and because my bedroom was right next to the nursery, I witnessed all sorts of things over the years-arguments, things getting broken, conversations between Diana and the nanny, exchanges with their father. There was a real sense of normal family life," Wharfe recalled.
He explained that Harry was "the joker." "He was the fun one; he was well-liked. William was a little more serious, but he was still a typical little boy," the insider revealed.
"I don't quite know how William dealt with Harry constantly trying to grab the attention. Harry would tell the occasional fib about his brother-little white lies, really-as children often do, simply to get his mother's attention."
Additionally, Princess Diana ensured both her boys were raised to be respectful and courteous.
"William and Harry could certainly be naughty, but they were also incredibly polite. If Diana ever heard them make a rude comment to anyone, she'd immediately say, 'Go and apologize,'" he said.
However, he quipped that Harry could be an "absolute nuisance" and went on to share a special anecdote from the royal's childhood.
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"I remember coming back one afternoon after spending the day with Diana. I was getting ready for an evening engagement, so I ran a bath and went back into my room while it filled," Wharfe recalled, adding that a few minutes later, he stepped into the bathroom and saw that the bathwater was bright red.
"I thought, 'What on earth has happened here?' Then I heard someone shuffling down the corridor. There was Harry holding an empty bottle. I said, 'What have you been doing?' Off he disappeared," the insider said with a smile.
"I chased after him into the kitchens, where I discovered he'd told one of the chefs that Ken was having a bath. The chef had handed him a bottle of cochineal food coloring and said, 'Go and put that in Ken's bath.' That was Harry," he added.
Princess Diana raised her sons to be respectful, and was a hands-on parent (Image: Tim Graham/Getty Images)
He noted that William would never have done something like that.
"He was simply more reserved by nature. He still had plenty of fun, but Harry was always the one looking for mischief," Wharfe said.
The former bodyguard also credits himself for introducing Prince Harry and Prince William to go-karting.
"I remember introducing them to go-karting because Diana herself had loved racing go-karts with friends before I met her. They loved it. Harry was reckless in a go-kart; he'd probably have become a good Formula 1 racer with the right tuition," Wharfe remarked.
"Anyway, she asked if we could take some go-karts down to Highgrove one weekend, which we did," he shared, adding that, unfortunately, it turned out to be a wet winter weekend.
As William and three of his friends lay out a circuit around the grounds of Highgrove, Wharfe claimed he was "slightly horrified when I saw the route."
"At the end of the race, there was a magnificent skid across part of the meadow. We did our best to repair the damage. A couple of weeks later, I was back at Highgrove when the Prince came in for breakfast. He looked at me and said, 'I gather you had a good weekend with the go-karts,'" Wharfe shared, reiterating that he apologized to Charles about the damage caused and said he had attempted to repair as much as he could.
The royal insider continued, candidly, "He smiled and said, 'Yes... I noticed.' Then he looked at me and said, 'You're not thinking of becoming the next Bernie Ecclestone, are you?' I laughed and said, 'No, sir. Nothing to do with me.' He took it entirely in good spirits. That probably gives you some idea of the sort of childhood William and Harry enjoyed."
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
