Prince Harry hits the road with test pass

The Prince of Wales’s youngest son is understood to have taken his road test near his father’s home at Highgrove, Gloucestershire, on New Year’s Eve.

Prince Charles is understood to be delighted that his son has earned his licence to drive on public roads, after about 20 lessons.

The royal teenager passed his highway code theory exam some time ago, before taking his road test in secret on Monday. He later announced his success to his father, and elder brother William, as they prepared to see in the New Year with party guests at Highgrove.

But he was not quite as quick to gain his licence as Prince William, a St Andrews University student, who passed just five weeks after turning 17 .

Prince Harry’s new status as a legally-qualified driver comes five years after he was at the centre of controversy after taking the wheel of a Land Rover at Balmoral while aged just 12.

Former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke sat smoking in the rear seat of the vehicle as the young prince struggled to see over the dashboard while driving at speeds of up to 20 mph without a seat-belt.

The royal aide was criticised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents for allowing the schoolboy prince to take control of the powerful Land Rover without a safety belt. But because Balmoral is a private estate, owned by the Queen, the Prince was not breaking the law.

As a child, he also enjoyed go-karting trips with his elder brother, organised by their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Prince Harry has since been spotted driving across private land in Gloucestershire, and it is understood that he has enjoyed practising his skills behind the wheel in the relative safety of royal estates for some time before taking to the open road, in preparation for his driving test.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Harry was now able to take the wheel legally. He said: "He has passed his test first time, in recent days."