Nude Photos of Prince Harry Surface Online

Aug. 22, 2012— -- Buckingham Palace has confirmed that pictures of a naked Prince Harry at a Las Vegas hotel that surfaced online are real.

TMZ posted photos overnight of the prince playing pool in a hotel suite room fully naked. In one of the photos, reportedly taken Friday, Harry is seen standing and covering his genitals with his hand. An unidentified woman, who also appears to be naked, is standing behind him. In another photo, the prince is bear-hugging a naked woman.

"Everybody knows better than to party naked in a room full of strangers without confiscating the cellphones. That's just Hollywood 101," said ABC News public relations consultant Howard Bragman, of Reputation.com. "There's always deniability, but once the photos are taken, you're caught."

Prince Harry, 27, has been on holiday with friends, letting off steam before the next phase of his military duties, sources told ABC News.

The palace said it won't be making any further comments about the nude photos.

"I don't think the queen will say anything to Harry. I think she'll probably ignore it but I'm sure it might make Prince Philip laugh a little bit," Ingrid Seward, Editor-in-Chief of UK's Majesty Magazine said today on "Good Morning America." "The bottom line is he was having fun."

"A part of the reason we all love Harry so much is that we see the serious side of him as a serving officer in the Army and we see him at the closing ceremony of the Olympics, looking very solemn, and we see him serving in Afghanistan and then we see this other crazy side and we rather love it," she said. "That makes him more endearing."

Harry's time in Las Vegas had been low-key. Harry and Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte faced off Monday in a swimming battle at a pool party, according to video obtained by the New York Daily News. The impromptu faceoff occurred at the XS Nightclub pool at the Wynn Hotel. Lochte can be seen in the video raising his hands in victory, just as if he'd defeated former rival Michael Phelps for gold.

Harry, third in line to the British throne, was also spotted Saturday chilling out a few bungalows away at a pool party Jennifer Lopez hosted at MGM Grand's Wet Republic, according to People magazine.

"Harry has been here before and I'm sure he will get out of this one," Seward said. " The next thing you know he'll be in Afghanistan and we'll all be saying that he is a hero."