London: A multi-millionaire best friend of Prince Harry who was partying with him in Las Vegas has called the girl who sold his naked pictures 'despicable'.
According to the Daily Mail report, Arthur Landon said the incident 'put a real dampener' on their trip to Sin City and confirmed the culprit was one of 15 bikini-clad women in a VIP suite when the prince was playing 'strip billiards'.
He added it was an abuse of the third in line to the throne's 'hospitality' by someone the prince and friends met in the five-star Wynn Hotel and invited back to his room to ‘continue the party’.
In photographs seen by more than 40 million people around the world, the Prince was snapped on a mobile phone wearing nothing but a distinctive necklace giving a topless girl a 'bear-hug' with his bottom facing the camera. In another photo he cups his hands to protect his modesty while his nude companion hides behind him.
Witnesses said that the prince later disappeared with his playmate.
'I obviously think it is really despicable that someone would accept Prince Harry’s hospitality and then take these pictures,' he said.
'I know it has put a real dampener on everybody who was on that holiday.'
Mr Landon, 30, who is one of Britain's richest young men with an estimated £200million fortune, said any suggestions one of Harry's friends sold the pictures were untrue.
'Some people have been hinting that it was one of his friends who took the pictures. But that is absolutely not true,' he said.
'None of his friends would ever do that. We are really careful. All that I know is that Harry’s friends would never have taken them.'
The pictures were published by The Sun today, despite the Palace trying to block the British press from using them on privacy grounds.
Landon, who is very close to the prince, is the son of Austro-Hungarian Princess Katalina Esterhazy de Galantha and the late Brigadier Tim Landon — known as the White Sultan or Landon of Arabia.
A former SAS officer, Tim made his fortune when he helped his Sandhurst friend Qaboos bin Said Al Said overthrow his father in Oman.
Meanwhile the Prince of Wales is claimed to have torn a strip off his son for his antics when he returned home this week.
'He gave him a talking to and told him to lie low,' a source told the Mirror.
It came as a girl at the now infamous party in the Wynn Hotel in Vegas said Prince Harry was the first to strip off in his hotel suite.
Apparently the playboy prince had his eye on a particular blonde girl and persuaded her to shed her clothes too during a game of 'strip billiards'.
He later disappeared with his playmate, witnesses claimed.
A reveller at the party also revealed that when other members of the group began to take photographs Harry said: ‘I will shield you, I will protect you, I won’t let them see you’ – making clear he was aware the pictures were being taken.
The unnamed woman told The Sun that she had personally been invited up to the room by a friend of the prince and found 25 people there, including at least 15 girls.
As they stood in the billiards room with stunning views of the Vegas Strip at about 4am a friend said: ‘I have an idea, let’s spice up a game of pool.’
‘Harry said: “Let’s do it”. That was what jump-started the party,’ she said.
The rules of the 'strip billiards' game were if a player potted the ball they got to go again but if they missed they took a piece of clothing off.
Harry chose a pretty, petite blonde to play with him. ‘She had her eyes on Harry so she was going to do anything,’ the source said.
‘He was helping her hold the cue. He was very attentive and hands on, showing her how to do it. He only had eyes for her…she was definitely someone he met for the first time that night.’
Harry went first and was only wearing swimming shorts. When he missed he was forced to go naked straight away.
‘Everyone was watching when he took his clothes off. It was exciting for the girls. He was in great shape,’ said the partygoer.
The girl then missed her shot and took her dress off. She shot again, missed and was then forced to take her bra off – which is when Harry hugged her from behind to ‘protect’ her modesty.
Afterwards they put their clothes back on, Harry offered her a beer and they sat on a couch talking together.
The witness told the newspaper: ‘He had his eyes on her from the start. He was very into her. She was giddy to be in the company of the prince and he was flirting with her.’
Crucially the witness added: ‘No one asked for our phones or anything about us when we arrived at the party. It was obvious people were taking pictures.’
The source recalled Harry was excited at the prospect of meeting pop star Jennifer Lopez at a pool party the next day.
She revealed: ‘He loved Vegas. There was music, lots of noise and excitement.
‘He was very friendly, there was no mention of him being a prince. He was up for whatever was going to happen that night.
‘Harry also knew Jennifer Lopez was in town. He said “I’m going to party with J-Lo”. He was back by the pool to party again five hours after we left him.’
The partygoer and her friends had spotted Harry and his group at the Surrender nightclub in the Wynn Hotel earlier that night.
She recalled: ‘We thought he looked hot. We wanted to get closer but couldn’t as he was very well guarded. Everyone was dancing and we became friendly with one of his friends. In the early hours we were invited up to the room.’
