(Prince Harry) SORRY OVER SWASTIKA

Sky.com ^ | 1/12/05 | Sky.com

[wagglebee]

Prince Harry has apologised after being pictured on the front page of The Sun in a Nazi uniform which he wore to a fancy dress party.

The newspaper showed the Prince, with a cigarette and drink in hand, wearing a swastika armband.

The 20-year-old said: "I am very sorry if I caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone."

In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, he added: "It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise."

On Harry's shirt collar was the badge of Wehrmacht - the German defence force.

The Prince was at a fancy dress party in West Littleton, Wiltshire last Saturday for the 22nd birthday party of his friend Harry Meade.

The 250-guest party had a native and colonial theme.

Prince William was reportedly present dressed in lion and leopard skin print top and tight black leggings.

Doug Henderson, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North and a former armed forces minister, said Prince Harry should not now be allowed to become a British Army officer.

"After the revelations this evening I don't think this young man is suitable for Sandhurst," he said.

The Sun said Harry's outfit of beige shirt and trousers and Nazi insignia which was the "talk of party guests".

However, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, a spokesman for the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, said the incident should not be blown out of proportion

"The fact that the palace has issued an apology indicates that this was a mistake by the Prince," he said

"But having being given, the apology should now be accepted."

A spokesman for the Board Of Deputies Of British Jews said: "The board is pleased that he's apologised for the incident.

"It was clearly in bad taste, especially in the run up to holocaust memorial day on the 27th of this month, which the Royal Family will be taking a leading role in commemorating."

It is the latest in a long catalogue of unsavoury incidents involving the Prince. Last year he was pictured attacking a photographer outside a nightclub. There were also accusations that he cheated in exams to get into Sandhurst.

Revelations about Harry's use of soft drugs, alcohol and cigarettes have also hit the headlines.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Has to be one of the most annoying tendencies

Amen to that, I always make sure to post to a post from the posting police.

[Lucky2]

Looks like the prince got his mother's brains! The whole family are a bunch of idiots but this kid got a double dose.

[metesky]

Well, they are part German afterall.

[Bald Eagle777]

Bulls-eye.

Displays of left wing radicalism, Marxism and Communism are generally glossed over. Interesting indeed.

[Rodney King]

Don't you claim to be related to everybody?

[dmz]

I think it's called rebellion.

In the midst of the Iran hostage crisis I went to a halloween party dressed as a mullah.

Of course I didn't have the paparazzi following me recording my every bowel movement.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Didn't these people get to be kings because one of their ancestors was a better murderer.

[Bombardier]

And we were wrong to abandon royalty WHY? Geeze....what else should we expect from the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas (not even "Windsor" until what? 1915?)?

[onedoug]

Inbreeding.

[LibWhacker]

Guess he played hooky on the day his mom was teaching political correctness. It's a costume, for crying out loud, a C-O-S-T-U-M-E! Do people who dress up as Dracula for a costume party thereby communicate a secret admiration and affinity for a murdering, blood-sucking son of Satan? </devil's advocacy>

[monkeywrench]

"...but wasn't there a grownup involved SOMEWHERE with this decision?"

Maybe he has an islamic advisor.

[SaltyJoe]

I think that if he wanted to display a soft rebel side, then he should speak with a lilt and wear Ireland's rugby colors. To be fair to all those who've lost mothers to trajedy or murder, wearing a Nazi swastika is akin to wiping his royal backside with the Union Jack. Whomever plays body guard for this lad should have made a call to the upper ups for all cases not covered by instructions before anybody could have snapped a photo of Harry as such.

[Peter Libra]

My little tribute to things Jewish ie: in England rather meant that their presence did not drastically alter the established ways of the local population. Thus the synagogue in Brighton, England, dated at least as far back as 1867 (Middle St) is still there- this is the street where my gt grandfather lived. Nobody tried to "move in" and turf the residents out.It is still the same as it was.

Sorry for this homily. Oh, possibly because the Jews joined in with every one- 'cept their faith of course.

Harry is a bit of a nut- that I will agree. Perhaps he is like a Hollywood movie star's untalented kid. LOL.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

It appears that Harry was undereducated in history. A lot of kids in the USA might also be this dumb.

[LADY J]

He's certainly a wimpy looking character.

[Tamar1973]

but why on Earth do so many people here feel compelled to act as Posting Police?

Because we are tired of seeing the PR bandwidth clogged with repeated posts about the exact same incident. The Sky and BBC articles were basically the same and added nothing new or relevant to the story.

[Tamar1973]

It's a different article, for crying out loud.

But it is about the exact same topic and added nothing new to the story.

[Tempest]

Harry and Paris Hilton deserve each other.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Indeed. I wonder if some heads are rolling among the silly lad's salaried caretakers. Their employers can't be pleased . . .

[royalcello]

First of all, it is not true that "the public has such a low opinion of them." Despite the best efforts of Britain's anti-royalist Left, who ought not to have sympathizers on this site, no opinion poll has ever showed less than 50% support for the monarchy and the royal family.

There were some sensible comments on BBC News' Have Your Say which deserve to be quoted:

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I have been to many a fancy dress party, and have dressed up as Adolf Hitler, Stalin and Al Capone. Please can you tell these people who find this offensive to go get a life!
Paul Banks, Shropshire

All this fuss and outrage is preposterous. There should be no need for a formal apology. It was fancy dress party, plain and simple. Should Christians be offended if someone wore a Roman costume? After all, didn't the Romans feed them to lions? People need to stop being so precious. Let the kid have his fun.
James Castle, Llanelli, Wales

Shouldn't we be hearing an apology from whoever leaked these pictures to the newspapers? Wearing that outfit to a public function would have been unforgivable, but he wore it to a private party. If it wasn't for the so-called friend who saw fit to invade his privacy like this, no more than about twenty people would know about his bad choice of costume, and hardly anyone would be offended.
Kate Griffin, Oxford

If the Board of Deputies of British Jews has accepted the apology already issued then that should be the end of it. However, I suspect many other groups will not be content with a mere apology and will want to blow the issue out of all proportion.
Carl, West Midlands, UK

Harry may have been silly but he is young and entitled to have fun in his young years. It would be good to see his brand of humanity, sense of humour and zest for life copied in others.
Philip Garwood

Prince Harry may have made an unfortunate misjudgement, but what were the tabloid press doing at what was presumably a private party? I'm certain they weren't invited!
Gordon Lewis, Southampton, UK

Leave the guy alone. These stories are promoted to sell newspapers, not for any critical news worthiness. He is young and should be allowed to do things without half of the UK looking over his shoulder every minute. Don't the critics have anything more serious in their lives to worry about? Sad people!
John Turnbull, Abu Dhabi, UAE

The Sun should apologise for printing the picture. He's a young man at a party having fun. Let him live a normal life.
Glenn Johnson, Yapton

A storm in a teacup. Yet again, our over censorious media feeds us an anti-royalist story to upset the credulous tabloid-reading ninnies. Yes, this is foolish from Prince Harry but it is in the context of a private party (do all members of the Royal Family forsake a private life nowadays?) but hardly a war-crime. Please brighten up Britain and do not take everything so seriously.
Mark, Wakefield, England

If "The Producers" is acceptable entertainment on the West End stage (and I loved it although I did think my Mother would have been horrified to see Adolf Hitler singing and dancing after what she went through in London during the Blitz) then I think this Nazi fancy dress costume of Prince Harry's is being blown out of all proportion. Prince Harry is a young man, several generations removed from WWII and a joke is a joke. Leave him alone.
Keith Parker, London

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My own additional comment: the people who are getting outraged over this don't seem to grasp the concept of a Costume Party. The whole point of such a party is that one dresses as something which has little or nothing to do with one's real life and may even be diametrically opposed to what one believes in. I had a friend in high school who dressed as Hitler for a Historical Figures party, and he had no sympathy for Nazism whatsoever. The second important point is that this was a PRIVATE PARTY; no photograph from it belongs in the press. It is not as if Prince Harry dressed as a Nazi at a public event. If it hadn't been for some anonymous snitch and The Sun, no one would no about this. Instead it's international Big News--yet another pathetic attempt by the gutter press to trash the royal family.