Prince Harry has a long list of regrets especially concerning his rift with the royal family but he was saved from one permanent decision before heading back to the UK.
The Duke of Sussex, who now lives in Montecito with his wife Meghan Markle and two children, was a frequent visitor to the U.S. while he was still part of the royal family.
In his early years, Harry was known for letting loose and partying with his friends and one infamous Las Vegas trip from 2012 has been immortalised in the papers.
Sharing never-before-revealed details of the trip, Harry said that his friends held him back from rash decision during that rowdy night.
“I need something to commemorate this trip, I decided,” Harry wrote in Spare about getting a tattoo that night. “Something to symbolise my sense of freedom, my sense of carpe diem.”
He added, “For instance…a tattoo? Yes! Just the thing! Maybe on my shoulder? No, too visible. Lower back? No, too…racy. Maybe my foot? Yes. The sole of my foot! Where the skin had once peeled away. Layers upon layers of symbolism!”
King Charles’s son had decided that he wanted to get a map of Botswana – a place “important” and “scared” to him – on the role of his feet. When he told his bodyguard Billy the Rock, he refused the plan.
“He smiled. No way,” harry recounts. “My mates backed him up. Absolutely not. In fact, they promised to physically stop me. I was not going to get a tattoo, they said, not on their watch, least of all a foot tattoo of Botswana.”
He continued, “They promised to hold me down, knock me out, whatever it took. A tattoo is permanent, it’s forever! Their arguments and threats are one of my last clear memories from that evening. I gave in. The tattoo could wait till the next day.”
Tattoos are not strictly prohibited in the royal rules but they are frowned upon. No senior member of the family flaunts a tattoo. If Harry had returned with one, it is possible that it would land him trouble.
Years later, after leaving the royal family, now Harry is hoping to reconcile with his cancer-stricken father and make amends.
There have been peace talks happening between Montecito and Buckingham Palace, but it remains to be seen how those talks could bring Harry and his family together.
Meanwhile, Harry is expected to return next month to attend the WellChild Awards, sparking hope that a meeting with the monarch could be arranged.
