PRINCE HARRY IN NAZI UNIFORM
Current Affairs - January 2005
(Comments: tony.papard@btinternet.com)
I'm no admirer of royalty, but please, give the guy a break! Not only do photographers follow him and his brother William around everywhere, snapping Harry when he's had a few drinks and a bit of a rumpus with a photographer coming out of a niteclub, but he is crucified for his choice of costume at a fancy dress party. OK, perhaps 'Colonials and Natives' wasn't the most politically correct theme for such a party, and the uniform of one of Rommel's Nazi troops also not the best choice, but hundreds of people hire similar costumes all the time.
Not only are Nazi uniforms prevalent in films, TV programs and even in a stage musical (The Producers), they are standard costumes in many fancy dress hire shops, and also quite a few fetishists and uniform lovers choose them for sexual purposes. I can't really see it is much different to wearing an RAF or USAF uniform - after all their personnel are responsible for countless civilian deaths in Dresden, Hamburg, Berlin, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. The only difference really is scale - the Nazis killed more innocent civilians in a shorter time period. But if your child was burnt alive, asphyxiated or torn to pieces by an RAF air raid and the resulting fire-storm, killed by radiation from the Americans' Hiroshima atrocity or frizzled to death in napalm dropped by the Yanks in Vietnam, would YOU say an RAF or USAF uniform was much better than a Nazi one?
Then there are all sorts of historical and modern figures people might depict in fancy dress - Henry VIII, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin, Queen Victoria, Lyndon Baines Johnson, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, etc. - every one of them has blood on their hands. Just because someone dresses up in fancy dress doesn't mean they identify with everything the costume represents. I can't see Harry has done anything wrong.
What is far more worrying is when Nazi uniforms are worn by royalty for political reasons. Ex-Queen Frederika of Greece was photographed in Hitler Youth uniform, and this was for real - she was actually a member. Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, was also a Nazi sympathizer, as was his wife Wallis Simpson. Is anybody seriously suggesting that because Harry wore the uniform of one of Rommel's North Africa campaign soldiers he is a raving Nazi?
Of course part of the problem of the monarchial system is that it dictates that those born into the royal family are destined to rule, so they cannot lead normal lives. So not only is a hereditary monarchy undemocratic, it is unfair to the royals themselves. Why shouldn't they be allowed to live ordinary lives like anyone else? Yet from the cradle they are brainwashed to conform to their role as royals, and flunkies, minders, bodyguards and security men accompany them everywhere. They have a right to a private life; royals didn't choose their public profile, it was thrust on to them at birth. I only wish at least one of the royals would have the courage to say: 'Stuff the Monarchy! I'm not interested, I'm a republican!'
Nevertheless William and Harry have as much right to privacy as any other young person. We have a right to know if they join a political party, because one day they may be Head of State, but do we really need to know what they did in a niteclub, or what they wore to a fancy dress ball? If Harry or William dressed in drag as Myra Hindley, or donned a beard as Dr Harold Shipman, would it really matter? They are just depicting a character for the evening.
Give these lads a break. They will have enough responsibility dumped on their shoulders soon enough, let them enjoy their youth while they can. There are far more important things to worry about than whether Harry wore a German Second World War uniform to a fancy dress ball. George W. Bush and Tony Blair don't wear Nazi uniforms, but they are responsible for many civilian deaths in Iraq and elsewhere. Harry hasn't killed anyone yet, as far as I know.