One of Prince William’s oldest schoolfriends has been admitted into a rehabilitation clinic, raising fears about the suitability of some of the future King’s chums. The Hon. Nicholas Knatchbull, a godson of the Prince of Wales, has voluntarily gone abroad to seek treatment for his habit.
Nicholas, who was in the same house as Prince William during their time at Eton, was due to appear in a Kent courtroom on serious motoring offences, after he was caught reversing up a motorway and driving at 50 mph in a restricted area. But Lord and Lady Romsey’s son submitted a confidential letter to the court via his lawyers explaining his absence.
It is not the first time that Nicholas, who stands to inherit the Broadlands estate, where the Queen and Prince Philip spent their honeymoon, has been in trouble with the law. He was arrested at a party near Eton and found to have a small quantity of cannabis on him. He was later released with a caution after it was accepted that the drugs were for personal use only.
Buckingham Palace attempted to difuse the situation over the weekend by saying that Prince William knew Nicholas in his first year at Eton in 1995 but they were not now in close contact. Prince Charles, however, is said to be worried at the growing influence of illegal substances among his son’s friends. Party girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson checked into an Arizona drying-out clinic in 1999 to fight her cocaine addiction. Another of Charles’s godsons, Tom Parker Bowles, has admitted to using the drug. And his first cousin, Emma Parker Bowles, has also been in rehab for substance abuse.
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