Princess tried to put son off drugs

Princess Michael of Kent took her son to a drug rehabilitation centre to confront him with the reality of addiction but was still unable to prevent him experimenting with cocaine, she revealed today.

The princess also took Lord Frederick Windsor to Scotland Yard when he was a teenager for a crash course in drug recognition in the hope he would steer clear of them.

Lord Frederick, now 24, later admitted taking cocaine after being photographed leaving a party in Fulham in a dishevelled state.

But Princess Michael said: "He's down as a drug user, but he's not. You just have to watch him in action. Freddie is not a junkie."

She insists he resisted the temptation to take drugs for many years after she emphasised their dangers to both her son and her daughter, Lady Gabriella, now 22.

"I went through a lot of trouble with the drug thing because it's every mother's worst fear," she told Hello! magazine.

The princess also spoke of her shock at being forced to leave Kensington Palace where she has lived rent-free since her marriage to Prince Michael of Kent 25 years ago.

"Having been given the apartment for life I assumed we would live the rest of our days there," she said.