Posted on 01/18/2005 11:31:48 AM PST by quidnunc
Gott im Himmel, what was Harry thinking? If you are a public figure, the great grandson of the last emperor of India no less, and you live in censorious — and camera-phone-saturated — times, attending a "Native and Colonial" party is almost certainly unwise. To do so in Nazi uniform is absolute madness. And after days of high drama, low farce, and massed denunciations, we all know the result.
To take just a brief selection of the criticism, Harry is now the "Hitler Youth" (the Sun, a newspaper that dilutes its moments of moral indignation with bouts of manic punning), "the most tasteless fool in the country" (London Times), and "an idiot" (Independent). Perhaps more worrying for the "clown prince" (Sun, again), the principal prominenti to rally to his support were David Irving (a historian often accused of Holocaust revisionism), a disgraced Tory MP, and Fergie.
It would have done nothing for the Night Porter, but Harry's has been the shirt seen 'round the world, the mother of all wardrobe malfunctions, a poor, sad scrap of bad taste, a feeble facsimile of an Afrika Korps tunic, garnished with a swastika armband, a touch that the late Field Marshal Erwin Rommel would, I suspect, have found somewhat vulgar.
And yes, it was a dumb, dumb thing to do. Stupid rather than malicious, but, particularly given Harry's status, it was clearly inappropriate — and genuinely offensive to many. Quite rightly, the prince was quick to issue an apology. That should have been an end to the matter. That it was not says plenty about modern Britain and contemporary Europe, little of it good.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Look, for some kid who's got the world on a string and did absolutely nothing to earn it, he should know better. He's had very good teachers and tutors.
Apparently, they were either incompetent or Harry is dumb as dirt.
Just don't mention the war.
I vote for "dumb as dirt."
Gee, young people have never done anything stupid like this before in history ever, I am shocked.
He's a public figure. No party is private. He's out there and should know better. Although I admire your generosity. But, the kid's a bonehead.
I agree it was pretty stupid. Doesn't he have any real friends though, who would not have let him go out like that?
he was just doing what some his family has always done. (/s)
the winsors are germans.
some of them identified with germany before ww2 and wanted to along with their mainland family.
It was a dumb move, but those who take offense need to get a life.
I suppose we should be angry at the show Seinfeld for having Elaine's boss have a Hitler mustache one time.
Come on. It was a COSTUME PARTY.
You generally dress up to a costume party, and there is no crime in dressing up like a bad guy.
Sure.
Second, the theme was 'Colonials and Natives'.
Anyone in the public eye has to be a moron to even consider going to a party with this theme.
Harry went dressed as one of the Colonial North Africa type Nazis, not the SS or whatever.
Right. He went as a "Good" Nazi. Gotcha.
bump
This stunt is as stupid as an American celebrity with the stature of say, Ted Danson, going to some gig in blackface...
what the heck....
Ted was helping his (at the time) girlfriend, Whoopi Goldberg celebrate her Friar's Club Roast....
You know, the hell of it is, he might not.
I do feel sorry for the kid. I wouldn't want that gig.
Hmmm..yes, I'm sure.
But say, did he have a father? Did he have as a father a mentor, someone he could respect, who inspired moral leadership in him?
"Prince" Charles was a playboy until his mid-thirties (or was it his forties), and a philandering husband from the day of his marriage to the day his scorned wife died in a car with another man. The British Royals may have many problems, ethical, moral, and otherwise. However, for want of a good Prince, a future king, the British monarchy has been reduced to a farce. Charles has single-handedly destroyed the monarchy, and his sons follow in his footsteps (at least Harry). I know the other sons of the current queen have been an equal embarrassment, but Charles could have take his brothers aside, told them in no uncertain terms what the Royal standard was, and bought them into line.
Charles can't even control himself. Why would one expect his sons, the sons of the wife he shamefully scorned, to respect their father, or give any heed to "Royal Standards"?
I suspect that the monarchy as a function of state in Britain will soon be dissolved.
SFS
Sheesh! This subject still floating around.
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