The plan was to keep a low profile...oh dear

The decision to pull Prince Harry out of Argentina has focused attention once more on the behaviour of a young prince who has already earned a reputation for antics as often as not featuring drink or girls or both.

Whether there is any truth in the reports in Argentinian papers that Harry had been making nightly forays to bars and nightclubs is open to question.

It is a moot point, too, whether officials were really so worried about Harry's headstrong behaviour - as the Argentinian press has claimed - that they contacted British Embassy staff to demand they "contain and control" the prince.

What is beyond doubt, however, is that the Prince of Wales must have hoped that by having his son safely ensconced on a polo farm in South America he would be able to keep out of the headlines.

It is only a month ago that Harry caused his father anguish by lashing out at a photographer outside a West End nightclub. Today that hope is well and truly dashed.

Harry was meant to be kept busy working with ponies and being a general dogsbody at the ranch, owned by Simon and Claire Tomlinson - parents of Harry's friend Luke, one of the pro- hunt protesters who tricked their way into the Commons chamber in September.

A source at the 425-acre ranch said when he arrived: "The word to staff is to keep a close eye on him. Apparently Prince Charles has told Harry to keep a low profile and not to party or fool around."

Local photographers dogged his every move, and one reporter said: "Harry is a huge story for Argentinians. There is great speculation that he will not be able to resist our beautiful girls."

Harry, of course, is no stranger to nightclubs, and one of the stories which aroused the greatest fury in his long-suffering father was the time he was photographed in Chinawhite with a topless model on his lap, prompting the headline "Harry Pulls Page Three Girl". It is also claimed that Harry had taken to leaving the estate without warning.

He is even said to have managed to evade his four Scotland Yard minders and 15 local police officers sent to guard him by riding a motorcycle down a small dirt track on a remote corner of the estate.

Clarence House has poured cold water on the stories, describing them as "100 per cent, outrageously untrue".

A spokesman said: "Accounts in certain papers in Argentina about Harry's alleged drinking and bad behaviour couldn't be more wide of the mark."

Clarence House has done its best to improve the Prince's reputation by publicising his charity work during his "educational" gap-year - trips to Africa to make documentaries about Aids, tours promoting rugby around inner-city Britain - but it has been an uphill struggle.

Today's headlines, regardless of whether Harry is at all to blame, will not have helped.