Prince Harry admits taking cocaine as a teenager on hunting weekend 'to feel'

Prince Harry has admitted for the first time that he took cocaine when he was a teenager as he wanted "to feel" and "to be different".

In his upcoming book Spare, the Duke of Sussex said he was once offered a line at someone's house during a hunting weekend.

After taking cocaine for the first time, Harry then went on to consume some more - although he admitted it "wasn't very fun".

Spare is coming out in the UK on January 10 but has accidentally gone on sale in Spain early, with shoppers snapping up copies five days before the book's official release date.

Writing about the reason why he tried the Class A drug, Harry wrote in the book that at the age of 17, he was "willing to try almost anything that would alter the pre-established order".

Prince Harry's memoir Spare will be published globally on January 10 (Penguin Random House)

Prince Harry arriving at a club in South Kensington, London, in 2006 (jgbb)

On pages 112 and 113 of his memoir, the Duke of Sussex wrote: "Of course I had been taking cocaine at that time. At someone's house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more.

"It wasn't very fun, and it didn't make me feel especially happy as seemed to happen to others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main objective. To feel. To be different."

Harry said he was a 17-year-old willing to try almost anything to alter the established order.

However, he added he quickly realised taking cocaine "was not worth it" as the "risks far outweighed the benefits".

Prince Harry and Prince William at Kensington Palace as they view flowers left in tribute to their mum Princess Diana after her death (Getty Images)

Harry and William at Diana's funeral (AP)

Harry's admission, which has been translated from a Spanish version of his memoir, comes after he confessed to Oprah Winfrey that he used alcohol and drugs as a method to cope with his failing mental health because of his mother's death.

Last year, the Duke of Sussex opened up to the American presenter for the Apple TV series The Me You Can't See.

He admitted that he was "willing to take drugs" while struggling to process the death of Princess Diana - but confessed that he was "trying to mask something".

Prince Harry and pals dancing at an afterparty in 2003 (CP)

Harry told Oprah: "I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs. I was willing to do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling.

"But I slowly became aware that, ok, I wasn't drinking Monday to Friday but I would probably drink a week's worth in one day on a Friday or a Saturday night.

"And I would find myself drinking not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying to mask something."