Britain's Prince Harry was hit in the face with a camera during a scuffle with photographers as he left a London nightclub in the early hours of Thursday, royal aides said. Prince Harry is seen in this September 11, 2002 file photo leaving London's St Paul's Cathedral. (Reuters)

Prince Harry, fast gaining a reputation as Britain's most unruly royal, was involved in a scuffle with a photographer outside a London nightclub, palace officials and witnesses said.

A royal spokesman insisted the 20-year-old younger son of the late Princess Diana -- who died in 1997 when the car in which she was fleeing a convoy of press photographers crashed in Paris -- only pushed a camera away after it struck him in the face.

However the photographer concerned insisted that Harry, who was leaving the fashionable Pangaea club in the Mayfair district of central London, "lunged" towards him, pushing the camera into his face and cutting his lip.

Harry, and 22-year-old brother Prince William, are both known to be very distrustful of members of the press, who they supposedly blame for their mother's death, despite an official inquiry which cleared the photographers.

Harry's relations with the media were not improved by newspaper reports last week that one of his former schoolteachers had accused the prince of receiving illicit help in his final exams, allegations which reportedly upset him greatly.

However the incident at around 3:00 am at outside the South African-themed club will cement Harry's growing reputation as a playboy prince with a wild streak.

Two years ago, Harry admitted to smoking cannabis and underage drinking at a bar near the southwest England estate of his father, heir to the throne Prince Charles.

He was subsequently photographed leaving a succession of London nightclubs, and Britain's tabloid press was filled with stories about his alleged liaisons with a series of young women.

The royal spokesman insisted that Thursday's incident was in no way the fault of Harry, who had been "surrounded by photographers" as he left the club.

"Prince Harry was hit in the face by a camera as photographers crowded around him as he was getting into a car. In pushing the camera away, it's understood that a photographer's lip was cut," he told AFP.

However the photographer involved, Chris Uncle, 24, gave a very different version of events to London's Evening Standard newspaper.

Prince Harry suddenly "burst out of the car and lunged towards me as I was still taking pictures," he said.

"He lashed out and then deliberately pushed my camera into my face. The base of the camera struck me and cut my bottom lip. At the same time he was repeatedly saying 'Why are you doing this? Why don't you just leave me alone?"'

A photograph in the paper showed Harry, arms extended, pushing Uncle's camera away, while in another a burly royal security officer has the prince in a bear hug and appears to be manhandling him into a car.

According to the paper, other guests at the club that night included a soap opera actor and a topless model.

(Agencies)

unruly: noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline（不受拘束的，蠻橫的）

cannabis: any plant of the genus Cannabis; a coarse bushy annual with palmate leaves and clusters of small green flowers; yields tough fibers and narcotic drugs（大麻）