| Why William and Harry snubbed Princess Bea's birthday party
Prince William and Prince Harry missed their cousin Beatrice's 18th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle to party with the son of a jailed mercenary, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
As close relatives of Princess Beatrice, they had been expected to be among the guests at her themed ball.
Instead, they spent the evening dancing with friends at the Oxfordshire home of Jack Mann - the son of ex-SAS officer Simon Mann, who is serving seven years in a Zimbabwean prison over his role as the ringleader in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.
Sir Mark Thatcher was also accused of being involved in the plot but escaped jail after paying a £265,000 fine.
While guests at the formal event, hosted by the Duke and Duchess of York, wore Victorian bodices or military uniforms, revellers at Jack Mann's 23rd birthday celebrations dressed down in jeans and T-shirts.
And as Beatrice mixed with Elle Macpherson, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and Peaches Geldof - with butlers and maids attending to their needs - guests at Mann's event helped themselves to bottles of wine and cans of lager.
Party-goers - including Harry's South African girlfriend Chelsy Davy, wearing a floral summer dress with sunglasses perched on her head - also queued for chicken drumsticks, sausages and burgers cooked on a giant grill.
Harry is a close friend of Stowe-educated Jack, who trained alongside him at Sandhurst military college. The pair have both now been commissioned in the Blues and Royals.
Earlier, William, 24, and Harry, 21, spent the afternoon on the polo field. William rode alongside Jack as the Combined Services team beat South Africa at Tidworth, Wiltshire. In the next match, Harry scored three goals as his Army side beat the Royal Navy.
Having a ball
Then the Princes headed to Grange Farm in Over Worton in Oxfordshire to join 200 guests at the estate of Jack's stepfather Richard Schuster. Mr Schuster married Jack's mother Jennifer in 1986.
Harry, wearing jeans and a dark green polo shirt, with a baseball cap tucked in his back pocket, was at the centre of the party - knocking back spirits and perching on the knees of admiring girls, despite the presence of his girlfriend. One guest said: "Harry started off all right but then he changed from drinking cans of Carlsberg to something in a glass. You could see his glass was getting fuller each time and he was having a real giggle with people.
"Then he went and sat on girls' laps, having a chat with them. Everyone was drunk by the end of it.
"Harry wasn't ratted but he was drunk. You could tell he'd had a few but he was just having a laugh with everyone."
While his brother entered into the party spirit, William, dressed in jeans and a dark blue T-shirt, did not eat a thing and left after an hour spent sipping from a can of Carlsberg.
It appears the gravity of Army life was never far from Harry's mind.
"He said how much he was enjoying it and that he wouldn't mind if he got sent out to Iraq or Afghanistan as long as he was serving his country,' said the guest.
But one topic not mentioned at all during the evening was cousin Beatrice's party being held an hour's drive away.
"I don't think anyone ever thought about it,' added the guest.
Last night a spokesman for Clarence House said: "It was made clear at the time of Beatrice's party that the Princes had other commitments. And we don't comment about what they do in their private life."
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