Social media is used by millions of people on a daily basis, but concerns over security means its private use is off limits for most senior members of the royal family.
Prince Harry, who is married to Meghan Markle, is known to value his privacy extremely highly so it may be surprising to learn he once had his own secret Facebook profile.
Using the pseudonym Spike Wells, the duke was known to have over 400 friends on the social media networking site, including some of the UK's wealthiest and most glamorous socialites.
Harry’s nickname from friends and family is said to be Spike - due to his hairstyle - which explains the pseudonym.
The account, which was active for four years, is said to have featured a number of photos of him with his now ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
Mr Wells’ profile said he was from Maun, Botswana - a town visited by the Prince and his former girlfriend Ms Davy in 2007.
The destination is also where Harry and Meghan would go on to share their first romantic holiday together.
It listed his interests as “all sports”.
The alter ego regularly changed his profile picture, including one snap which showed three young men in matching Panama hats - one of whom bore an uncanny resemblance to Harry.
Previous profile photos included images of a hedgehog, a lemur from the cartoon film series Madagascar, and a red-headed child clutching his head with the comment: "Oh my God, I'm ginger".
In another highly-revealing clue to Mr Wells' real identity, the mysterious Facebook account was friends with Harry's millionaire pal Arthur Landon.
But those hoping to add him as a friend will be disappointed to learn that the profile was deleted in 2012.
It's also been claimed that Prince William opted for a similar privacy technique by asking college friends to use a secret name of 'Steve' whenever they referred to him.
Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection for Scotland Yard, previously told how a Facebook page for a member of the royal family would pose a “security risk”.
He said: “From a security point of view I would never recommend anyone high-profile to have a Facebook account because, depending what you have on it, it is indicative sometimes of where you are going, what you are doing, and more importantly, who your friends are.”
