PRINCE Harry was allowed to leave his Apache helicopter base after it was put in lockdown when random drug testers arrived.
It was secured by armed guards in May 2011 as the team arrived unannounced.
But Harry — who has now confessed to using cocaine and cannabis as a teenager — was granted special permission to quit RAF Wattisham, Suffolk.
His team said he needed to go to London on “urgent palace business” despite only just returning from there.
As he drove off in his souped-up Audi A3, his comrades — senior and junior — were ordered to give urine samples.
Harry is thought to be the only one not tested.
There is no suggestion that Harry, 38, took any drugs while in the armed forces — nor that he deliberately avoided the test.
But in his bombshell autobiography Spare he admits getting high on coke and pot before he joined the Army in 2005, and tripping on mushrooms after he left in 2015.
He also said he got high on marijuana after his first date with Meghan.
Harry was with 656 Squadron, 4 Regiment Army Air Corps at the time.
Last night his former Squadron Sergeant Major Mark “Oz” Wilson, who was in charge of squadron discipline, said: “I couldn’t believe Harry was allowed to leave.”
Sgt Maj Wilson, 50 — who has since left the forces — added: “He had just returned from a period of leave, from being off celebrating Prince William’s wedding.
“If you miss a test because you are not on camp normally you have to book a test ASAP at the next location you are going to.”
A top Army source confirmed Harry’s sudden departure “would have looked very strange to his comrades”.
But they said in Harry’s defence: “You can’t expect soldiers and sergeant majors to be aware of the diary pressures on the third in line to the throne.”
The bombshell memoir also revealed…
A royal source said it was Harry’s ex-SAS secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton who called the camp commander to get Harry permission to go.
Harry passed his Apache training and deployed to Afghanistan the following year where he says he killed 25 Taliban militants.
His former comrades hailed him as down to earth and a talented officer well liked by his troops.
Mr Lowther-Pinkerton, now an equerry to Prince William and the High Sheriff of Suffolk, did not respond to requests for comment.
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