ROYAL efforts to play down claims Prince Harry was ‘out of control’ on a trip to Argentina have been frustrated after the reporter at the centre of the story provided new details and fresh allegations surfaced in the UK press.
The 20-year-old prince flew back to Britain on Friday after 13 days in the country when his gap year trip was cut short amid claims - vehemently denied by Buckingham Palace - that he was drinking heavily and vulnerable to a kidnap bid.
But while
Harry’s last scandal involved an early morning altercation with a paparazzi photographer outside a London nightclub, this time he ran up against a senior journalist at the quality Argentine daily newspaper, Pagina 12.
Raul Kollmann wrote about the prince’s alleged escapades and suggested that they had threatened his personal security.
Kollmann covers security issues and politics, but he is best known for his hard-hitting investigative reports on corruption and abuses within the police, especially Buenos Aires provincial officers, who were in charge of Harry's security.
According to Kollmann’s initial report, officials with the provincial Ministry of Security contacted the British embassy on Tuesday to ask that Harry be "contained and controlled".
Faced with Royal denials, Kollmann yesterday reacted by giving more detail. He said that with Buenos Aires provincial authorities concerned that they would be blamed if something were to happen to Harry, Martin Arias Duval, undersecretary of the provincial Ministry of Security, ordered the police guard be increased to 15 officers.
Kollmann added: "The fact that Harry was going to nightclubs was a topic of discussion between the Ministry of Security and the British authorities."
While Argentine authorities say the gun shots that were heard close to the ranch came from poachers, Kollmann said that there were genuine concerns for Harry’s safety.
He added: "The provincial police had expressed growing frustration at their inability to keep track of the young heir."
Harry was staying at a polo ranch at El Remanso, near Lobos in the Pampa region, 60 miles southwest of the capital Buenos Aires.
According to Kollmann, on two occasions Harry took off without notice on a private plane to neighbouring provinces, forcing the Buenos Aires officers to scramble to arrange for police in those provinces to provide security upon his arrival.
The journalist said it was logical that Harry's handlers might have been anxious to whisk him out of the country because the alleged kidnapping plot gave a local prosecutor the legal authority to call Harry in for questioning about his trips to the nearby nightspots.
He claimed what was even more worrying might have been the prospect that the prosecutor would exercise his authority to prohibit Harry from leaving the country until the case was resolved.
Sources within Argentina's Foreign Ministry told Pagina 12 that Harry did not enjoy diplomatic immunity. While Harry has a diplomatic passport, there was no official purpose to his vacation in Argentina, and in any case diplomatic immunity would not have applied in a case of common crime.
Pagina 12 said a murder suspect in the local underworld tipped off the Argentine government about a plot to kidnap the prince. It said police fired shots into the air on Wednesday night after detectives suspected kidnappers were near the ranch.
Local police said that shots were heard near the horse ranch, but said this was nothing unusual.
As Harry arrived back in the UK, more claims about the trip emerged in the British press. The Daily Mirror claimed the prince had been found slumped asleep outdoors after an all night drinking session with friends.
The newspaper quoted Juan Ellios, 45, a worker at the estate where the royal stayed, who said: "One day Harry and two others were still lying on the grass at 9.30am surrounded by beer bottles and cans. They were totally drunk. That guy is terrible, a real rebel. Every morning we'd see two or three crates of empty bottles."
Harry, who planned to visit Argentina for up to six weeks, was said to have drunk at one bar until 5am, locking out the locals.
Senior aides emphatically denied the reports, saying there was not one word of truth in them or in the claims that his behaviour had left him vulnerable to an alleged plot by local criminals to try to kidnap him from a bar.
They pointed out that the prince had been trailed mercilessly by paparazzi photographers during his two-week stay, yet not one photograph had been published of him to substantiate any of the claims.
One senior aide said: "He is intensely frustrated. He behaved himself perfectly, yet he still comes home to face all of this."
A Clarence House spokesman reiterated that the prince had flown home on the date originally planned. The aides said that reports of drunkenness were "completely untrue".
Last night a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The allegations being made about Prince Harry are 100% fabrication and are completely wrong.
"These reports of late night drinking binges are untrue. He spent most of his time at the ranch and made a few short shopping trips to the local villages."
The full article contains 886 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
