Consensus on Prince Harry's Gaffe: He Knows Nothing

washingtonpost.com ^ | Thursday, January 13, 2005 | Peter Griffiths

[crushelits]

LONDON, Jan. 13 -- Britain's Prince Harry apologized on Thursday after he wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party two weeks before Queen Elizabeth is due to lead the country's Holocaust memorial events.

In the latest of a string of gaffes, Harry, 20, wore a red-and-black swastika armband and an army shirt with Nazi regalia at the party at a friend's house Saturday. The incident will heap more embarrassment on the royal family and Harry, third in line to the British throne and due to train at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst this year.

Queen Elizabeth is due to host a reception for Holocaust survivors Jan. 27 before representing the nation at the Holocaust Memorial Day National Event.

"I am very sorry if I have caused any offense," Harry, youngest son of the late Princess Diana and heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, said in a statement. "It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize."

A picture of Harry in his Nazi outfit was taken at the private house party of Olympic horseman Richard Meade and published on the front page of the Sun newspaper under the headlines "Hitler Youth" and "Harry the Nazi."

[Question_Assumptions]

A history professor told us that Roman kids used to dress like Hun barbarians to shock their parents. If there is one constant among affluent children, it's that boredom drives them to do stupid things to stand out. Maybe someday he'll grow up.

[colorado tanker]

Yeah, Harry's as much of an intellectual as Chuck and Di.

[omniscient]

It's really some bloke by the name of James Hewitt:

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=36121

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Stupid PR move because of the nattering class, but no BFD. It's a silly costume at a private party. Are we ging to ban reruns of "Hogan's Heroes" because it's a comedy about Nazis? If that becomes official government policy, they'll have to pry my bootleg "McHale's Navy" tapes from my cold, dead hands!

[Salgak]

They have real jobs. . . they keep tabloids in business !!

[jocon307]

"Isn't that Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP radio reading the paper?"

LOL! I believe you are correct, sir!

[jocon307]

"To tell the truth, I did stuff a lot more insensitive and pointless than this when I was twenty."

Maybe you did, but you weren't third in line to the throne of England then, were you?

[technochick99]

This reminds me sooo much of Eric Cartman.

[nikos1121]

Unbelieveable...what other gaffes has he been responsible for?


nikos

[Veto!]

I absolutely blame Harry's stupid mother for his problems. Diana bandied her affairs around in public, many Brits think he is not the child of Charles but of one of her "lovers," which may be true, as he looks just like one of the other fellows. How could Harry NOT be screwed up emotionally?

[Polyxene]

Harry-Not-So-Bright. Wonder what his IQ is?

[Yaelle]

Oh come on. Those ears alone = Charles.

[A.A. Cunningham]

If Joe was still alive, he and Harry would be tight. The little wanker even looks like the bootlegger.

[Phantom Lord]

Harry needs to return to school and take History 101 and pay particular attention to WWII

All of England does. A recent poll found that nearly 70% had no idea what Auchwitz (sp?) was.

[Phantom Lord]

I can't believe people are upset by this costume. Clealry the more important matter is that he is SMOKING!!!

I hope I don't really need a sarcasm tag

[crushelits]

UK's Harry Rules Out Auschwitz Visit in Nazi Row.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Harry on Thursday ruled out visiting Auschwitz as atonement for wearing a Nazi uniform at a party just two weeks before the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation.

Jewish groups had demanded the 20-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth make the symbolic gesture as a way of apologizing for wearing a swastika armband and an army shirt with Nazi regalia at a costume party on Saturday.
The prince has apologized for his "mistake" but Jewish rights groups and politicians said he should do more.

"This was a shameful act displaying insensitivity for the victims, not just for those soldiers of his own country who gave their lives to defeat Nazism but to the victims of the Holocaust ..." said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center.

He added in a statement: "We strongly urge Prince Harry to accompany the British delegation on January 27th to the Auschwitz death camp to commemorate 60 years since liberation. There he will see the results of the hated symbol he so foolishly and brazenly chose to wear."
A royal official said he understood the calls for the prince to go to Auschwitz but there were no plans for him to attend any of the ceremonies.
"It would be a distraction and a detraction from the importance of the occasion because it would become a different story in media terms," the official told Reuters.
"He recognizes he made a very bad mistake and he apologizes for that. There are no plans for him to say anything more."
<>
The Nazis murdered six million Jews and millions of others including Poles, homosexuals, Soviet prisoners and Gypsies. Millions more were imprisoned or forced to work as slaves. Photographs of the younger son of the late Princess Diana and heir to the throne Prince Charles in Nazi attire appeared in Britain's Sun newspaper, in Israeli papers and on Web sites around the world.
Harry, third in line to the throne, said in a statement he was sorry if he had caused any offence. "It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize," he said. <>

"INTOLERABLE"
Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "Prince Harry has made it clear he is very sorry about it and I think the rest of it is best to leave to Buckingham Palace."
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was less sympathetic, saying the use of Nazi symbols was intolerable. <> "I think anybody who tries to pass it off as bad taste must be made aware that this can encourage others to think that perhaps that period was not as bad as we teach the young generation in the free world," he told reporters.

Conservative opposition leader Michael Howard, who is Jewish, told BBC Radio: "It would be appropriate if we heard from him in person about how contrite he is." <> Royal commentator Robert Lacey said he was just "a messed up kid" and should be left alone. "He clearly got it wrong. It is a very fine line and Harry stepped over it. But he has apologized and we have to move on," he told Reuters.

Former armed forces minister Doug Henderson was quoted as saying the picture showed Harry was "not suitable" for the army.
Harry, who is due to train at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst this year, is known as a royal "wild child" and has admitted smoking cannabis and under-age drinking.

Harry was left alone by the British media for several years after the death of his mother in a Paris car crash in 1997, but has come in for criticism in the last few months. Last October, he scuffled with photographers outside a London nightclub.

[Ancesthntr]

A history professor told us that Roman kids used to dress like Hun barbarians to shock their parents.

But there were few, if any, complaints about parents punishing their kids back then. I imagine that quite a few of them got the ever-living cr@p beaten out of them by some vet of the barbarian wars who happened to be a father or uncle or cousin. Prince Harry could use such a beating.

[cyncooper]

Where were his handlers I wonder?

It's my impression they weren't fazed by his get-up, either. And doesn't that speak volumes.

[UlmoLordOfWaters]

All of England does. A recent poll found that nearly 70% had no idea what Auchwitz (sp?) was.

That is a most frightening statistic.

I'll never forget standing in the middle of the Dachau concentration camp. Never.

[EveningStar]

Cartman is more real. ;)