Prince Harry has closed down a Facebook page he maintained under the alias 'Spike Wells' in the wake of the nude Vegas pictures scandal.

The existence of the Spike Wells Facebook page had been known to many Harry obsessives for over a year, but the page was tightly controlled with high-level privacy controls. It has now vanished from the net entirely.

Spike would frequently comment on the pages of his 400 friends, including Arthur Landon, who last week posted a picture of Harry passed out in the sand on Necker Island.

Until last week, Mr Landon’s Facebook page was fully accessible to the general public. He published a picture of a suitcase which contained a gas mask, fancy dress outfits and what appeared to be a purple bong before his trip to Necker.

Among those commenting on the image was the mysterious Spike, who wrote “good luck” before joking that his friend might have to explain the contents of the case to a judge.

“I’ve called ahead,” he added, “I should be fine”.

The fact that Prince Harry was regularly commenting on Landon's Facebook page means that he may well have been aware of his friend posting the picture of him passed out in the sand.

Howver, in the picture you can only see Harry's shorts, not his head, but publishing images and information which hinted at Spike's identity to insiders appears to have been part of the fun for Harry.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr. Wells’ profile said he was from Maun, Botswana, a town visited by the Prince and his former girlfriend Chelsy Davy in 2007. He listed his interests as “all sports”.

His profile image once featured a red-headed child clutching their head under the comment, “Oh my God, I’m ginger”.

'Spike' also posted pictures of an adventurer in sub-zero conditions holding aloft a Union Flag with the logo of the charity Walking with the Wounded.