LAS VEGAS — Those lucky enough to have a brush with Prince Harry during his first visit to Las Vegas say he was as down-to-earth as any other 27-year-old who appreciates a Harley, a night out with friends and a cheap beer.

The weekend rendezvous in Sin City came as the prince is spending several weeks training on Apache helicopters at Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field in southern Arizona, about six hours away.

Dan Dvorak of Hacienda Harley-Davidson said the royal showed up in jeans and a baseball cap when he stopped by the Scottsdale, Ariz., dealership Friday to rent a motorcycle.

“He’s just a regular 27-year-old guy,” said Dvorak, the dealership’s rental manager. “Mild-mannered. Excited to be on a Harley.”

Dvorak said the prince has a motorcycle license in the United Kingdom, but completed a test drive on a 1600cc bike before officials set him and his entourage loose on American highways. “He definitely knew what he was doing,” Dvorak said.

People magazine reported that Harry – third in line for the British crown behind his father and older brother, William – rented a room at the Wynn Las Vegas, a five-star, 50-story resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Wynn spokeswoman Deanna Pettit said the resort does not comment on guest visits.

The prince’s itinerary took an artistic turn the following day. A Cirque du Soleil spokeswoman said Harry’s party reserved prime, $178 seats for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. performance of “O.”

Show officials said they held the prince and four of his military friends in a VIP room for about 20 minutes before discreetly ushering them to their seats as the curtain rose. They were seen clapping enthusiastically and laughing during the show – and also sipping a Corona apiece.

He told show staff afterward that he’d heard that “O” – set at the Bellagio – was the best of the seven Cirque shows in town.

Officials said the prince was impressed with the water effects and contortionists in “O,” which features acrobats, swimmers and characters performing in and above a 1.5-million-gallon pool.

Mall of America exhibit to feature Diana’s wedding gown, artifacts

MINNEAPOLIS — The royal wedding gown of the late Princess of Wales is among the dozens of items in a large exhibit covering Diana’s very public life that will open in February at the Mall of America here.

“Diana: A Celebration” will run from Feb. 4 through June 10 and include the gown from her fairy-tale wedding in 1981 to Prince Charles and 28 of her designer dresses, family heirlooms, personal mementos, items connected to her extensive charity work, paintings and rare home movies and photos.

The 150 objects, which will be displayed in nine galleries on Level 4 of the mall, will be on loan from Althorp Estate, the Spencer family’s 500-year-old ancestral home in England.

Also in the exhibition are the original text of the Earl Spencer’s moving tribute to his sister at her 1997 funeral in Westminster Abbey and books of condolences left by people throughout the world.

All profits generated from “Diana: A Celebration” at Althorp Estate and overseas go to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. Since 1998, the exhibition has generated more than $2 million for charities supported by the memorial fund and has been visited by more than 1 million people, though it is open there for only two months out of the year.

O’Neal’s son says he drove while on drug

SAN DIEGO — Griffin O’Neal, the son of actor Ryan O’Neal, pleaded guilty Tuesday to driving under the influence of drugs, a felony, stemming from a head-on crash that injured another motorist.

The San Diego Union-Tribune said O’Neal also admitted being a felon in possession of a firearm, another felony, and acknowledged he has a 1992 conviction for shooting into an unoccupied vehicle.

O’Neal was on drugs Aug. 2 when he veered into oncoming traffic and collided with another vehicle in San Diego County.

Defense attorney Heather Boxeth said at a previous hearing that her client had been trying to help his half-brother Redmond O’Neal, who had been arrested on suspicion of heroin possession the same day.

Griffin O’Neal faces up to four years in prison.