Prince Harry reportedly “jumped the fence” at Glastonbury and partied until 4am, according to the festival’s founder Michael Eavis.
The 88-year-old made the comment while he was at Windsor Castle earlier this week, receiving his knighthood for his services to music and charity. He was among a host of stars including Shirley Bassey, Ridley Scott, Leona Lewis and Emilia Clarke who were recognised by King Charles.
It was after the ceremony, which was presided over by Princess Anne, that Eavis recalled a time when both the King and his son, Prince Harry, had attended the Worthy Farm event.
“The King came once, [when he was] Prince Charles. And Harry – I think he jumped the fence…” he recalled, later going on to explain how he knew about the incident.
“I’ve got spies everywhere. No, I’ve got security all over the place actually.”
“He enjoyed it! Prince Charles enjoyed it as well actually,” he said, also adding that that time was the “only” time that the Duke of Sussex went to the festival. “That was the old Prince Harry before he went to America”.
The time he is referring to is most likely the 2013 edition of Glasto, where Prince Harry was spotted backstage watching The Rolling Stones headline the Pyramid Stage and partying until the early hours of the morning (via GB News).
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“I recommended that he should go on into the night because the nightlife is what Glastonbury is all about. At three o’clock in the afternoon, you don’t get it,” Sir Michael continued.
“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.”
Eavis received the honour from the Princess Royal in an investiture ceremony on Tuesday (April 23). It comes after he previously received a CBE in 2007.
The knighthood acknowledges his services to music and charity, and highlights how Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid all receive donations from Glastonbury every year. The event aims to raise around £2million for charity per year, and the funds raised for the non-profit organisations also go towards helping hundreds of local causes.
As highlighted by BBC News, last year the festival donated more than £3.7million to a variety of charitable causes and campaigns. These include the homelessness organisation Centrepoint, the food redistributors Fareshare, several refugee charities and Mind, which supports those struggling with mental health.
Speaking of the honour, he explained that it was his daughter Emily who had brought him the letter about the knighthood.
“I was really surprised to see it, actually. Why did they choose me I wonder? What can I say, really? I’ve done quite a lot of stuff in my life and I’ve always been fairly sure that I was doing the right thing,” he said.
On Glastonbury’s success, he added: “We started with 500 people in 1970 and we’ve finished up with millions wanting to come every year now. That’s quite extraordinary isn’t it?”
The 2024 instalment of the festival will return to Worthy Farm near Pilton, Somerset in the final weekend of June, from Wednesday June 26 to Sunday June 30.
The bulk of the Glastonbury 2024 line-up has been shared, with Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA set to headline the iconic Pyramid Stage. Shania Twain, meanwhile, will perform in the coveted Legends slot.
The festival has also begun to unveil the line-ups for individual stages, including the Acoustic Stage, which will be headlined by Scouting For Girls, Ocean Colour Scene and Gipsy Kings.
This year will also see the debut of the first ever dedicated South Asian stage, named Arrivals. Artists on the line-up include Bobby Friction, Anish Kumar, Nabihah Iqbal and Nikki Nair. Similarly, the entire Shangri-La line-up has also been announced, with names including Kneecap, Bob Vylan and Lambrini Girls set to feature.
You can check out the full line-up so far, as well as all the stage splits for the 2024 edition here.