Prince Harry hit one of his own security guards nicknamed “Billy the Rock” after a night of drinking
- Prince Harry attacked a Scotland Yard security guard during a trip to Paris in 2007
- Harry turned on Sergeant Bill Renshaw after a night of drinking
- “I growled at him, jumped on him, slapped his head,” Harry writes in his memoirs
Prince Harry attacked one of Scotland Yard’s highly trained protection officers who were looking after him, he reveals in Spare.
Harry tells a number of stories about “Billy the Rock” – identified by The Mail on Sunday as Sergeant Bill Renshaw – including how he helped Harry escape the paparazzi after leaving nightclubs by putting him in the trunk of his car “Like a coffin” before closing the lid. Billy was even on duty during Harry’s infamous trip to Las Vegas in 2012.
However, the most amazing story of their close bond comes in an episode where Harry launches a violent attack on Billy while he works to protect him.
During a trip to Paris in 2007, Harry was determined to retrace his mother’s recent trip. After visiting the tunnel where she died, Harry turned on Billy after a night of drinking.
Prince Harry attacked one of Scotland Yard’s highly trained protection officers who were looking after him, he reveals in Spare. The Duke of Sussex is pictured during his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on January 10
During a trip to Paris in 2007, after a night of drinking, Harry turned on Sergeant Bill Renshaw and “growled at him, punched him, smacked him on the head.” Harry is pictured in Paris in 2007
Harry says: “When Billy the Rock escorted me back to the hotel, I tried to argue with him. I growled at him, jumped on him, slapped his head.
“He hardly reacted. He just frowned like an extremely patient parent. I hit him again. I loved him but I was determined to hurt him.
‘He’s seen me like this before. Once, maybe twice. I heard him say to another bodyguard, ‘Tonight he’s a handful.’
The prince then describes how Billy and another bodyguard ‘poured’ him into bed – but just as they thought he was asleep he got up and slipped past them and walked down the Seine alone.
He writes telling his brother about his visit to the spot where their mother died. He says: “None of this was new to him. It turned out he had gone through the tunnel as well.”
While his mother, the late Princess Diana, had referred to her butler Paul Burrell as her “rock”, Harry gave his security guard the same nickname.
Sgt Renshaw retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2017 and took up a position with Rugby Football Union.