David Cameron today admitted that the famous picture of him posing as an Oxford student with fellow members of the Bullingdon Club was an embarrassment.
In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr, the Conservative leader also denied being worth £30m, although he declined to put a figure on his family wealth.
His privileged background is likely to become a media issue during the Conservative conference this week because Channel 4 is screening When Boris met Dave, a docudrama about Cameron's time at Oxford, on its digital channel More 4 on Wednesday evening, on the eve of the Conservative leader's keynote speech.
Cameron, Boris Johnson, the London mayor, and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, were all at Oxford and members of the Bullingdon Club, an exclusive drinking club for wealthy students famed for their rowdy behaviour.
Labour has in the past tried to use this as evidence that Cameron is out of touch with ordinary people and today Marr presented Cameron with the Bullingdon picture and asked: "Is that the real David Cameron?"
Cameron replied: "No. We do things when we are young that we deeply regret."
Marr then asked if Cameron was embarrassed about it. The Tory leader replied: "Of course, desperately, very embarrassed about it.
"But I think people have had, over the last four years, a chance to get to know what I want to do with the Conservative party and what I want to do with the country and get to know me as well."
Marr, who last week was criticised for asking Gordon Brown if he took pills to help him cope with his stress, then asked Cameron how much he was worth. One researcher, trying to estimate how much is owned by Cameron, his wife and their respective families, has suggested that the Tory leader is worth £30m.
Cameron said the figure was "absolutely ridiculous".
He said he owned a "nice house" in London and a house in his constituency that was heavily mortgaged. Referring to himself and his wife, Samantha, he went on: "We both earn a good salary. We are definitely a well-off family."
But, when pressed to put a value on his worth, Cameron refused.
"House prices change all the time. Our main asset is the house that we own in London."
In an interview in the Daily Mail yesterday Osborne was also asked about his membership of the Bullingdon Club and his appearance in an infamous photo of members. He said it made him "cringe" because it was embarrassing to see himself "dressed up like a penguin".
Osborne went on: "A huge amount is made of the Bullingdon Club but, look, it was a drinking society that met twice a year. I hazard a guess that quite a lot of people in the country who do things at university now say, 'Ooh, I'm not sure that was the most sensible thing to do.'"