Prince Harry and the Press: A Brief History

Born the spare to the British monarchy’s heir, Prince Harry has always faced less pressure to be proper than his older brother has. But when Harry — more formally, Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales — was born on this day in 1984, no one could have predicted the extent to which he would become the royal family’s wild child.

On his 30th birthday, Harry can celebrate the many hijinks that have garnered him headlines over the years, including:

Jan. 2002: Quick Trip to Rehab

The royal family reveals that Harry spent a day at a London rehab center after admitting to his father that he had been smoking pot and drinking to excess. Police were even called to a bar where Harry was drinking with friends after he became belligerent and called a French employee a “f***ing frog.” Charles picked a clinic that caters to heroin addicts for an impromptu “scared straight” program, hoping to shock the 17-year-old prince into cleaning up his act.

Jan. 2005: Nazi Garb

Harry is photographed wearing a swastika armband while dressed as a member of Hitler’s Afrika Korps at a colonial-themed costume party, prompting a public outcry and calls for him to be stripped of his position at the Royal Military Academy. Prince William also attends the party, although photos of his costume fail to make a splash: He’s dressed as a lion.

Jan. 2009: Racist Remarks

A video is leaked of the prince making off-color comments about fellow military academy cadets. Another segment shows the prince in combat gear and camo face paint holding a cellphone in one hand and a cigarette in the other, pretending to end a phone call with the Queen. “Send my love to the corgis and grandpa,” he says. “God save you.”

Aug. 2011: Pool Party

On break from training as an Apache helicopter pilot, Harry lets off steam at a Croatian nightclub, where he jumps into a pool fully clothed, pulls himself out and continues to dance, barefoot and soaked, to house music.

Aug. 2012: Naked Billiards

The prince loses a game of “strip billiards” in Las Vegas — and TMZ publishes the pictures to prove it.

May 2014: Look-alike Drama

The reality show I Wanna Marry “Harry” premieres in the U.S. Although technically not in any way the prince’s fault, the show, in which twelve women compete for a proposal from a Harry impersonator, is terrible. It’s canceled after only four episodes; a reviewer for The Telegraph calls it “fodder for the braindead.” The fake Prince Harry, the reviewer complains, “wasn’t a wild or weird enough character to carry the show.”

The real Harry, one imagines, wouldn’t have had any trouble at all.

Read more about Prince Harry here, in TIME’s archives: Once Upon a Time, There Was a Pot-Smoking Prince