Arthur Landon
The son of Brigadier Tim Landon, who was known as the ‘White Sultan’, 30-year-old Arthur was on the infamous Vegas trip, and also with the Prince on Necker Island, for Sam Branson’s 27th birthday celebrations beforehand.
Worth Dh1.2 billion, Arthur was the pal who posted a photo of his pre-trip suitcase on Facebook, which showed he had packed a gas mask, V For Vendetta masks and an array of fancy dress costumes; along with a snap of a man passed out in the sand wearing the same red and white shorts Harry wore in Vegas, with the caption, “The perfect start”.
“I obviously think it is really despicable that someone would accept Prince Harry’s hospitality and then take these pictures,” he said of the naked Sin City snaps.
“I know it has put a real dampener on everybody on that holiday.”
Viscount Erleigh
Julian Rufus Isaacs, heir to the Marquess of Reading is a long-time society pal of the Prince, and it was his sister, Natasha, who first introduced Harry to Chelsy Davy. The 25-year-old financier became renowned for being the host of the ‘Den of Yeast’ – the nickname given to his Cirencester home where the jet set congregates after partying in Gloucestershire. Julian is also dating Davina Harbord – the sister of Harry’s blond party gal pal, Astrid.
Lady Melissa Percy
The blond tennis coach sparked rumours of a romance with Harry back in March when she was snapped having a cigarette with him in the stairwell of London’s Brompton Club.
Rumoured to be dating Thomas van Straubenzee on and off, the 23-year-old is the sister of George, Earl Percy – Pippa Middleton’s maybe-man – and the daughter of the 12th Duke of Northumberland. Oh and fun fact: The family home of Alnwick Castle doubled as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies!
Guy Pelly
One of Prince Harry’s closest pals, it was Guy who dressed up as the Prince’s grandmother, the Queen, during that fateful fancy dress party back in 2004 at which Harry turned up in a Nazi costume.
A club owner and manager, Guy was awarded Dh144,000 this year after the now defunct UK newspaper, News Of The World, admitted to hacking his phone and accused him of supplying drugs to the Prince; and it’s the 29-year-old we have to thank for the Treasure Chest cocktail at Mahiki – he invented it!
A bartender from Kent, the self-made Pelly (‘Pel’ to his pals), has stayed at the centre of Harry’s inner circle due to the fact that he has kept his mouth shut. “Even journalists have stopped calling me when something [to do with the Royals] happens,” he says of his loyal approach. “I’m always the last to find out the news nowadays.”
Thomas van Straubenzee
The 28-year-old chartered surveyor’s family has been connected to the royals for over 150 years, with one of his ancestors a Governor of Malta. Having attended both prep school and Eton with Harry, Thomas – who his posh pals call ‘Van’ – is also close pals with William, and accompanied the Prince on his first official tour of New Zealand.
And Harry proved just how dedicated a friend he is when he drove to help Thomas in November 2011 after the aristo was mugged by robbers, who held a knife to his throat whilst he was on the phone to the Prince. “Harry drove to help his friend and found him in a police station where he gave a statement,” said a source.
Astrid Harbord
Blond party girl and upper-class property agent Astrid, is widely regarded as Harry’s go-to girl for a raucous night out, and was once dubbed by society bible Tatler as “The coolest blond to leave Bristol university since Jemima Khan.”
The daughter of publisher Charles Harbord, who committed suicide in May this year over financial worries, 29-year-old Astrid is close pals with Guy Pelly, with the pair once living together in London, and was once caught by Prince William asleep in Harry’s bed after a party.
“I don’t mind where I am as long as I’m with friends – good music helps, a good dance floor and obviously drinks,” says Astrid, who, along with her sister Davina, have been dubbed the ‘Hardcore Harbords’. “If you have enough people who are all up for it you can have a really good time.”
Jake and Susanna Warren
The society siblings have been friends of Harry’s since birth, with their father running the Queen’s stud farm and 26-year-old sports PR Jake a godson of Princess Diana. Having grown up at the impressive family pile of Highclere Castle in Berkshire (which is the main setting for Downton Abbey), Jake attended Eton along with Harry, and has gone into business with their mutual pal, Guy Pelly – who, incidentally, has dated Susanna on and off for the past few years. And the privileged sibs are descended from the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, the man who funded the dig that discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb – and who died mysteriously of its ‘curse’.
Tom Inskip
The 25-year-old, commonly known to his party pals as ‘Skippy’, is widely regarded as Harry’s ‘wingman’, after the Prince’s other bestie, Guy Pelly, largely ditched the party scene to focus on developing his nightclub businesses in London.
Accompanying Harry on the Vegas trip, when the Prince is in the thick of it, guaranteed Skippy – whose millionaire father, Owen, is close friends with Prince Charles – will be right there alongside him.
Tom partied with Harry in Hvar, Croatia, leaping into the nightclub pool alongside the Prince; was spied with Harry throwing snowballs at passers-by off a hotel balcony in Verbier, Switzerland, and was also the man charged with organising Prince William’s stag do.
