PRINCE HARRY DRESSES AS NAZI. HA. HA. HA.

Harry says sorry for Nazi costume
Clarence House issued a statement in response to a photograph published on the front page of the Sun newspaper under the headline, "Harry the Nazi". It read: "Prince Harry has apologised for any offence or embarrassment he has caused. He realises it was a poor choice of costume."

But there have been calls for the prince to make his own public apology. Tory leader Michael Howard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Prince Harry should appear in person, rather than talk through a spokesman. The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the costume was in "bad taste". But they were "pleased" he had 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."

The picture was taken at the weekend at a friend's birthday party in Wiltshire, which had the fancy dress theme "colonial and native".

Prince Harry, 20, appears to be wearing a German desert uniform and a swastika armband. He is also holding a drink and cigarette.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, said: "The fact that the palace has issued an apology indicates that this was a mistake by the prince. "But having been given, the apology should now be accepted." But the Queen's former assistant press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, said: "This young man has got to come up front and be seen in person making an apology."

Former armed forces minister Doug Henderson MP said the picture showed the prince was "not suitable" for the prestigious royal military academy Sandhurst, which he is due to attend later this year. "If it was anyone else, the application wouldn't be considered. It should be withdrawn immediately," said the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North.


SEE ALSO: Touchy subject of royal links with Nazi Germany
Linked by blood but twice divided by war, the royal family's relationship with Germany, its people and its troubled history has long been a sensitive one. The photograph of Prince Harry wearing a swastika has echoes of one particularly disturbing incident involving the family, one which seared itself into the British collective memory - that of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor meeting Adolf Hitler in 1937. The ex-King Edward VIII and his wife were known sympathisers of the Nazis and their policies, a feeling shared by a large number of British aristocrats who admired the way Hitler was dealing with the Communists. The Nazis regarded the duke, who had abdicated over his affair with divorced American Wallis Simpson, as a potential ally and a possible head of state for a subjugated Britain. ....

There was embarrassment in the Eighties when Princess Michael of Kent's father, Baron Gunther von Reibnitz, was exposed as a former Nazi party member and SS officer. Less well known is the fact that one of Prince Philip's sisters, Sophie, was married to Christopher of Hesse-Cassel, an SS colonel who named his eldest son Karl Adolf in Hitler's honour. Indeed, all four of Philip's sisters married high-ranking Germans. The prospect of the former Nazis and Nazi sympathisers attending his wedding to the Queen meant he was allowed to invite only two guests.