Royals

Prince Harry: ‘I wanted to be the bad boy at school’

Prince Harry speaks to young South African boys about avoiding the lure of gang culture.

Prince Harry may have a royal moniker, but he has confessed that he wanted to be a “bad boy” during his school years.

“I didn’t enjoy school at all,” said Harry, who was visiting the Ottery Youth Centre in Cape Town that looks after teens from troubled backgrounds.

“I would have liked to come to a place like this. When I was at school I wanted to be the bad boy.”

The Prince is on tour in Lesotho and South Africa and one of his engagements took him to the youth centre, according to Hello Magazine.

Harry advised the lads not to give in to peer pressure. “It’s much harder to stand up for what you believe in.”

The boys at the centre have all been referred there by the courts and the program is run by Professor Ruben Richards, an expert in gang culture.

Speaking about the importance of good role models to help avoid the lure of gang culture, Harry couldn’t resist taking a little dig at his big brother.

“If you’ve got an older brother that’s not into gangs, that’s a huge positive,” said Harry. “Older brothers are supposedly the cool ones. I’m a younger brother but I’m much cooler than my older brother.”

Professor Richards laughed and promised not to tell William, to which Harry replied: “That’s alright. He knows it.”

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