In February last year, Britain was wild about Harry after news leaked about the soldier prince's secret 10-week mission in Afghanistan.
[comment caption=Do you think Harry has learnt his lesson?]Harry's frontline stint saw him hailed a hero and gave his playboy image a much-needed boost after a series of scandals involving underage drinking, cannabis smoking, drunken nightclub outings and - most infamously - wearing a swastika to a fancy dress party.
Now, just 11 months later, the Queen's grandson is back at controversy central - splashed over the front pages of Britain's newspapers for making racist remarks in a home-made video.
Despite apologising for referring to a fellow soldier as a "Paki" in the video, which he filmed three years ago while an officer cadet, Harry has been roundly condemned.
He's been branded a yob, foolish and ignorant as well as faced calls to leave the army and apologise to the people of Pakistan.
Harry's remarks have renewed debate about racism within Britain's armed forces as well as his own judgment.
Some commentators believe the video, published on the website of the mass-selling News of the World tabloid, demonstrates the party-loving prince's inability to grow up.
However, others argue that little else can be expected from the 24-year-old given his upbringing and the impossibly high standards he is expected to meet as a senior member of the royal family.
His grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, is famous for insulting foreigners and has made a string of racist remarks including one about "slitty-eyed" people in China.
"The trouble with a hereditary monarchy is that you get what you're given: in this case, a third-in-line to the throne of no great intellectual acuity," Guardian newspaper columnist Peter Preston wrote.
"(Harry) should have had more sense. He ought to have known that supposedly private videos can land up on the net or the front of the News of the World. But then, that's the trouble with Harry."
Harry was just 21 when he filmed a group of his fellow trainee soldiers while they waited to board a flight to Cyprus in 2006.
At one point, his camera zooms in on Ahmed Raza Khan, now a captain in Pakistan's army, and says: "Ah, our little Paki friend, Ahmed."
Harry, who is soon to begin training to become a helicopter pilot with the army air corps, also refers to another soldier wearing a camouflage scarf on his head as a "raghead" and jokingly pretends to telephone the Queen.
While "raghead" is regarded an offensive term for Arabs, St James' Palace has insisted Harry's remark was in reference to the common nickname attributed by British troops to the Taleban.
It has been his use of the term "Paki" that has caused the most outrage, given its association with violence against Pakistani immigrants in Britain, many of whom have faced taunts of "Go home Paki".
St James' Palace issued an apology on the prince's behalf, saying that Harry understood how offensive "Paki" could be and was sorry for causing any offence.
The father of Ahmed Raza Khan, Mohammad Yaqoob Khan Abassi, led a chorus of outrage over the prince's remarks, saying that "Paki" was "a hate word and should never be used against any Pakistani".
Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission has demanded an inquiry, while Muslim groups have described his remarks as sickening.
While Harry's use of the pejorative term appeared light-hearted in the video, he has still embarrassed army chiefs who have been trying to stamp out racism among the ranks and recruit more soldiers from ethnic backgrounds.
They were expected to give the prince a stern dressing down over the scandal, but not take any severe disciplinary action against him.
However, some of Harry's supporters insist his latest gaffe should be forgiven and forgotten because he has matured in the three years since the video was made.
"Like many young men, when they are in a particular environment, such as the army, it is all too easy to get caught up in a culture and a way of behaving that is commonplace but inappropriate," Harry's former press secretary Colleen Harris wrote in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"We should not be in the business of pillorying Prince Harry. He has apologised, this happened three years ago and he has grown up in the meantime."
Even Prime Minister Gordon Brown said while Harry's use of the term Paki was "unacceptable", he believed his apology was genuine and the public would understand.
But the fact that Harry made the comments just a year after being widely condemned for wearing a swastika armband with a German Afrika Korps uniform to a party, raises questions about whether he can learn from his mistakes.
Harry was first tainted by scandal in early 2002 when as a 17-year-old he was caught drinking while underage and forced to admit he had also tried cannabis.
A year later Clarence House was forced to deny reports that he was sent home early from a working holiday on a polo ranch in Argentina because he was drinking in local bars.
His academic record was also called into question in 2004 after one of his former teachers from the posh private school Eton claimed she helped Harry complete assignments.
That same year, Harry was involved in a scuffle with photographers while leaving a London nightclub around 3am.
But the British public appeared to forgive the larrikin prince's colourful past when it emerged he had put his life at risk by serving on the frontline in Afghanistan early last year.
Details of his tour of duty, including a steady stream of photos showing him on patrol, gave the impression he had found a career he was serious about and his partying ways were in the past.
Clarence House also promoted news of Harry's charity work in Africa, building on the good publicity he received for his service in Afghanistan.
It is that type of image the prince will now have to work hard at promoting if he is to win back the affections of the British public.
