Harry finds his own Camilla

Of all the girls he could have spent a night out with - and the list is certainly long - Prince Harry has yet again demonstrated an audacious disregard for the proprieties of royal romance.

He has the choice of almost any girl in London. And yet who does he choose to party with? None other than the daughter of Kate Simon, sometime mistress of Princess Diana's ex-lover James Hewitt.

By any standard, the liaison is an extraordinary one. For years, Harry and Hewitt have been inextricably linked by baseless gossip that the disgraced ex-Army officer is the prince's biological father - a slur that even Hewitt, who has shamelessly profited from the rumours, has been forced to deny.

After his encounter with a topless model in Mayfair last week, you might have thought that Harry would be a touch more careful when it comes to sharing his favours.

Yet there he was in a VIP booth at a trendy bar in Kensington with Camilla Simon, the 21-year-old daughter of millionairess divorcee Kate Simon.

Mrs Simon, 53, split from Hewitt 12 months ago after a two-year relationship during which she bankrolled his extravagant lifestyle and reportedly paid a £500,000 VAT bill from his failed riding school venture.

Clarence House has tried to distance the princes from Hewitt, who once offered live on

American television to sell letters from Diana written during their five-year affair to the highest bidder.

But yesterday it emerged that Harry, 19, is becoming increasingly close to Camilla, whose father Peter Simon is founder and chairman of the fashion chain Monsoon.

Mrs Simon walked away from their divorce with a £2.5million settlement. Camilla lives in South Kensington with her mother and brother George, 18, and is believed to be studying for a degree in child psychology.

Insiders say she is one of a close-knit group of 'poppy young girls' who are regulars at the bars which are Harry's favourites. Early yesterday, both were in a 20-strong party which took over a booth just off the dancefloor at Boujis.

Staff say Harry arrived soon after 11.30pm with two girls and two young men, including Guy Pelly, back in royal favour after being wrongly accused of giving Harry a cannabis joint at Highgrove two years ago.

The five went straight over to Miss Simon and her party, who included Sarah Gilmour, daughter of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour.

Boujis is famed for midweek parties which rage until 3.30am. It has a ring of booths round the dance floor, some shaped like beds, where partygoers recline on huge cushions.

A Boujis source who saw the prince arrive said: 'They came in with three bodyguards and Harry and his group went straight to one of the booths near the back and joined with another set of poppy types, a lot of them girls.

'One of the chicks Harry came in with came up to the bar with her friend and ordered a round of 15

drinks and took them back to the table. Harry never came up to the bar, but there seemed to be a lot of vodka cranberries heading back to his table.'

The drink is known to be a favourite of the prince. The royal protection officers sat separately, sipping water and lemonade and looking 'totally out of place', according to bar staff. They escorted their charge up the stairs and into a waiting car at 2.30am. Harry seemed 'merry', said the source.

Miss Simon is believed to have stayed until shortly before the venue closed. It was just the latest in a series of raucous nights out for the prince, who is expected to leave within weeks to start a two-month tour of Africa.

On Wednesday last week, Harry was pictured with two Mexican girls singing along to the music on the crowded dance floor at China White in Mayfair. The prince was also seen in a long clinch with model Lauren Pope, 20.

Regulars at Chelsea's So Bar, owned by Harry's mentor, the ex-Army officer Mark Dyer, say the prince has hardly missed a night in recent weeks as he holds a string of going-away parties.

Royal aides fear he could be setting the trend for how he will spend the year-and-a-half of freedom he still has before entering the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.

A St James's Palace spokesman refused to comment, other than to say: 'Prince Harry's private life is exactly that, private.'