PROFILE: 

Prince Harry has attracted yet more controversy with his decision to wear a Nazi costume at a fancy dress party.

He has apologised for the offence caused by the outfit, described as being in "bad taste" by a Jewish group.  The furore is the latest in a series of upsets involving the prince, who has been trying to improve his image.

The upsets include an apparent admission he smoked cannabis at 16 and claims he lashed out at a photographer outside a London nightclub.  But he has also taken part in numerous charitable projects, most recently volunteering, with his brother William, in a warehouse preparing aid for victims of the Asia tsunami.  The prince has lived his 20 years under the spotlight of the world's media, which began with the first official photographs alongside his mother Princess Diana.

Harry and William helped out with the Asian tsunami effort

Charitable works

There was still much public sympathy for the prince, who lost his mother aged just 12 in 1997, said the BBC's royal correspondent June Kelly, speaking after his involvement in a nightclub scuffle with a photographer last October.  But the incident had "upped the ante in what is clearly a fraught relationship between the Prince and the paparazzi," she said.  As Princess Diana died in a road crash after being pursued by the paparazzi through the streets of Paris, it is not surprising the young prince does not have an easy relationship with "the pack".

At the time Clarence House said the scuffle had overshadowed the positive publicity the prince received last year for his charitable works during his gap year.  A television documentary was made about the time he spent on aid projects in Lesotho, Southern Africa, when he helped to build a new health clinic and road, and dug fields for crops.

Prince Harry also spent time with people with HIV, Aids and TB in the country.  This was in part, an effort to build on charity work carried out by his mother.  In an interview to mark his 18th birthday, Prince Harry had spoken of wanting to "finish" his mother's work, and how she had got involved with things other people had not, such as Aids.

Military career

His first solo official engagements involved meeting drug addicts and sick and homeless children in London.  Recently he volunteered as a rugby coach for school children.

But for how long can such activities successfully counter the press stories painting him as a playboy prince?  In recent times he has been the subject of headlines for stories less popular at Buckingham Palace.  A former teacher at Eton College claimed in October 2004 at an industrial tribunal that she had helped complete part of the prince's coursework.

The prince in Lesotho, southern Africa

The claim was dismissed by royal officials as unfounded, and the exam board said there were no grounds for it to reopen an investigation into the matter.  The Prince left Eton last year with a grade B in his art A-level and a D in geography. He had dropped his third A-level subject, history of art, after taking the AS-level exam.

At 17, the Prince of Wales sent him to meet recovering addicts at a drug rehabilitation centre, after Prince Harry apparently admitted under-age drinking and smoking cannabis near Highgrove.

At the start of his gap year, he worked on a sheep farm in Australia and followed the rugby World Cup.

During this time, his officials complained about the intrusion of the Australian media into his life, suggesting he might leave the country if the situation did not improve.  Prince Harry is due to take up a place at the elite military training college, Sandhurst, this year following a long family tradition.