The Duke of Sussex once "jumped the fence" to sneak into Glastonbury Festival, the festival’s founder Sir Michael Eavis has claimed as he was knighted at Windsor Castle on Tuesday April 23 by the Princess Royal.
"The King came once, Prince Charles. And Harry – I think he jumped the fence I should think," quipped Sir Michael, 88, referencing Harry's wild past, before adding: "I’ve got spies everywhere. No, I’ve got security all over the place actually."
"He only came once," Sir Michael then insisted to PA, adding: "That was the old Prince Harry, before he went to America."
© Yui Mok - PA ImagesIn 2013, the now father-of-two was pictured backstage watching The Rolling Stones headline the Pyramid Stage and partying until the early hours of the morning. It is his only appearance at the festival that is known.
"Prince Harry was great actually. I recommended that he should go on into the night, because the nightlife is what Glastonbury is all about," Sir Michael said that year.
"At three o’clock in the afternoon, you don’t get it. I told him to get his taxi driver to come back at five o’clock in the morning and do you know what? He lasted until four in the morning. His friends were all having a great time. He didn’t want to make a formal thing of being here."
Harry was joined by then-girlfriend Cressida Bonas and a host of A-list celebrities including Kate Moss, Billie Piper and Sienna Miller.
The couple spent the afternoon watching live music before they were photographed tucking into a plate of fries, soaking up the sun and enjoying the vibrant atmosphere - though Harry did attempt to go incognito wearing sunglasses and a trilby hat.
In the early 2000s Glastonbury Festival was renowned for fence-jumping, and in 2002 a $1.2million five-mile perimeter fence with a second barrier was added to stop illegal entry.
© UK PressSir Michael was honored for services to music and charity; Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid all receive donations from Glastonbury Festival, which has been running since 1970.
Each year the festival, now run by Sir Michael's daughter Emily, aims to raise £2 million per year, which also helps hundreds of local causes. In 2023, the festival donated more than £3.7 million to a range of charitable causes and campaigns including British homelessness organization Centrepoint, food redistributors Fareshare, several refugee charities and mental health charity Mind.
© Matt Cardy"I’m so pleased that [the festival] became a success after all the grafting it took to get there," Sir Michael continued. "Trouble with the authorities and police and accountants and licensing and everything – in the end I had the last word!"
Over three million applications were received for the 2024 festival which will see Dua Lipa, Shania Twain, Coldplay and Sza headline. Avril Lavigne, Camila Cabelo, and The National will all also be performing.
