Prince Harry Once Ripped a Photo of Grandmother Queen Elizabeth Off the Wall at a London Nightclub and Said “I Can’t Have Her Watching Me Do This”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 13 December 2023

The Prince Harry of yesteryear was raucous, and every so often, we like to take a trip down memory lane and remember a funny anecdote or two about his life pre-marriage and pre-fatherhood. Case in point: The Sun took us back to a time when Harry ripped down a picture of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, from the wall of a club during a “wild party” and said, hilariously, “I can’t have her watching me do this.” (Were we ever so young?)

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Harry interacting

Speaking on the “Restless Natives” podcast, television star Paddy McGuinness claimed that the moment happened many years ago during a night out with a bunch of other celebrities in attendance alongside them. It all happened at an “underground” club in Chelsea, London, where there was “all sorts going on,” McGuinness said.

“I was talking to one of the security lads at the end because there was all sorts going on,” he said. “He [Harry] was ripping my t-shirt off, snogging and kissing me, and ripped a photo of the Queen off the wall and said, ‘I can’t have her watching me doing this.’”

McGuinness said he then asked Harry’s security guard what was going on, and said the officer replied “They’ll [the CCTV footage] never see the light of day. This is one of the clubs where the royals go and they can let off steam.”

McGuinness told the show’s hosts, Gordon Smart and Martin Compston, that the club had a “secret door” famous patrons could use that was surrounded by security cameras. “I get a tap on the shoulder and it’s Prince Harry,” he said. “I thought, ‘That’s bonkers.’ He kept appearing and disappearing.”

McGuinness also revealed that band members of One Direction as well as a group of footballers were also at the party. We live for fantastic memories like this.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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