Harry's 'racist and bigoted' set must be curbed, Charles told

[starroute]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=601397

Prince Charles was told that his sons' media image has become a "bad joke" in the wake of pictures showing Prince Harry wearing Nazi insignia. The senior adviser said: "There has been this attempt to portray them as symbols of modern Britain, with charity work and so on, which just makes people who actually know them laugh. They are part of a social scene which thinks racism and bigotry quite funny."

He added that Prince Harry's behaviour had deteriorated over a number of years and that he had been allowed to "get away with an awful lot".

<snip>

Meanwhile, Britain began to feel the consequences of Prince Harry's disastrous decision to wear a Nazi uniform as evidence of damage to London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games emerged this weekend. The French daily newspaper Le Monde said that it had come at the "worst possible time" for the bid and said that France's sports minister, Jean-François Lamour, had suggested the Queen should receive a medal for "undermining London's bid".

The schadenfreude was not confined to foreigners. The Labour MP Dennis Skinner said: "I don't want him to apologise. I want him to carry on the same way because the more they show themselves up, the sooner we get rid of them."

[Chipper Chat]

1. Can you say......

mountain out of a mole-hill?

[Maple]

2. Can you say....

the expected result?

[Jim Sagle]

10. No I can't say that.

[Lithos]

11. No, I don't think so

Fascism and the symbols of intolerance are not things to be taken lightly, especially as a rich kids party costume.

L-

[Chipper Chat]

28. Harry should be spanked!

My point was......
The whole world has been looking for a scapegoat for the tsunami (and for Bush's "victory." And now we have it:
PRINCE HARRY!

[ECH1969]

21. I can say it

mountain out of mole hill.

[WilliamPitt]

23. Wow

Do some reading about the London Blitz.

[jdj]

3. I'm so confused. Was that video they showed on SNL real?

They had Prince William in a KKK suit, and someone in black face, and Prince Harry making out with a girl with a Hitler mustache, it was like a politically incorrect costume party or something...it looked like home video, and looked so real.

[Chipper Chat]

4. Sounds like a Robert Smeigel film

[zann725]

5. Could they have been "darkly" parodying what is admired in USA?

"KKK" is an American phenomenum. And the Germans have called us Nazi's. So I'm curious if maybe we're "reading" it the wrong way. They're at an "age" where kids like making a "statement"...NOT necessarily agreeing with or admiring KKK or Nazi, but drawing attention to it for shock value? I'm not defending them, just questioning why?
Whatever the intent, their Mother would be sooo embarrased and disappointed. She spent so much time raising them better.

[nickine9]

12. re video

i've heard rumours about this, its difficult to find any hard facts but i think its tied in with the bonfires they have at Highgrove in november to "celebrate" an attempt to overthrow the government. these days though its hard to know what to believe

[AP]

18. A few months ago the older one had a birthday party, the theme of which

was Africa (IIRC).

Guests showed up in black face. It caused a big press sensation (as it should have). Smigel was probably making fun of that. If he had real video footage, that'd be interesting.

[AutumnMist]

6. I Have Often Wondered

what both of these boys (now young men) would have been like if their mother was still here. The trauma of their youth, being under the microscope of media, and having a whole hired staff of people telling you that you are perfect royalty all the time? Harry didn't get himself dressed, I would almost put money on that...the whole royal circle should be ashamed of this behavior.

[roguevalley]

7. His father said a while back that why can't people 'understand

their place' when he considered how people were trying to better themselves. Apparently the racism doesn't fall far from the tree. Take those bastard's money and privlege away from them and watch then sit and starve.

[NYC]

8. I was wondering who watched him walk out the door.

You're correct that he didn't dress himself. Others were aware of this, and did nothing to prevent it.

[starroute]

9. There is a persistent fascist strain in the British aristocracy

Many of them admired Hitler in the 1930's and thought England should have fought on Germany's side.

There was a recent article in the Guardian about the trendiness of fascism among the British upper classes in the 1970's:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1386281,00.html

There is no suggestion Lucan was in any way anti-Semitic or supported the Final Solution. But he and his associates, who included casino owner and party host John Aspinall, and the tycoon Sir James Goldsmith, were increasingly convinced Britain had fallen victim to a socialist conspir acy. Daily Express journalist Charles Benson, one of Lucan's friends, said: 'He was very right wing and never watered it down in front of liberals. He would talk about hanging and flogging and niggers to get a reaction.'

One biographer, Patrick Marnham, said: 'Seen from the Clermont Club , the country was starting to resemble the less stable years of the Weimar Republic. Sir James Goldsmith began to develop his theory of "the Communist infiltration of the Western media". Over the smoked salmon and lamb cutlets, the talk turned to the pros and cons of a British military coup.'

It may seem difficult to believe now, nearly eight years into the most secure Labour government in British history, but across the country pockets of the traditional ruling class were preparing for military action. General Sir Walter Walker, former commander of allied forces in northern Europe, formed the Concerned Citizens' Vigilante Association to stamp out Communism in Wiltshire, and Colonel David Stirling, founder of the SAS, invited volunteers to join his 'strike-breaking army' to crush the unions.

According to former MI5 officer Peter Wright, a group of his colleagues, including Margaret Thatcher's mentor Airey Neave, began discussing a political coup. According to Wright, they believed that the Labour government had been infiltrated by the KGB and should be overthrown. He also claimed they were backed by a right-wing financier. Goldsmith always denied he put the money behind the group or discussed MI5 matters with former intelligence officers.

There continue to be class tensions in Britain of a kind that we Americans can barely grasp. I have a friend who's lived in England for twenty years, and she explained the last time she was over here visiting that she has very deliberately maintained her American accent because to have a British accent of any kind instantly types you as belonging to one class or another.

I don't doubt that among certain elements of the British aristocracy there is nostalgia for the days when the lower orders knew their place, and that this could manifest itself as a romanticization of fascism. But for the heirs to the throne to be part of that is total insanity.

[malaise]

14. Funny that a fancy dress costume

gets more attention than the guilty plea of the former PMs son. Most successful and unsuccessful coups across the globe have had Western backing so that story is to be avoided.

What's going on in Iraq is way worse and the British government and financiers are part of that illegal act. This is stupid diversion.

[AP]

16. It deserves attention. It's this same attitude about empire among

the oligopoly for whom and by whom decisions like invading Iraq are made that causes all those other problems you noted.

The root the problem is racism and pro-imperial sentiment.

[malaise]

26. Valid point

but it is more important to deal with the imperialist's current adventure than a stupid costume. 100,000 plus lives have been snuffed out while they keep on spewing rubbish about loving humanity and world peace. Harry is the least of my current problems - deal with Dumb and dumber - Bush and Blair and their death-squads.

[Mr Creosote]

13. These people are shits basically

the theme of the party was "Colonials and natives" think about that and what it says about their attitudes.
Apparently "Prince" Harry, despite his fancy education and teams of advisers, should be excused because he's only young.
He's 20. My uncle died at 19 fighting the nazis. 3 of the men who died with him were also 19. Another was 20.
This is an insult to everyone who lost their lives fighting nazism. Still, great great Uncle David would be proud of him.

[AP]

15. Right on, Dennis Skinner.

He's exactly right.

[sweetheart]

17. yes indeed

This is why i support harry as well. He's just a regular chappie, who
is demonstrating that "royal perogative" is a thing of the past.

Every republican (british) and american democrat should be rooting
for harry to keep up the good work. He's doing more for ending the
monarchy than millions of protesting common folk.

As well, he's just showing the truth, that all people are fallible,
and that the monarchy is an anachronism.

[mr blur]

22. Dennis Skinner - the voice of Sanity (nt)

[The Flaming Red Head]

19. When your father has your mother killed

here's the outcome. I think he just wants to embarrass them all as much as possible.

[hollywood926]

24. Did you type that with a straight face? n/t

[truebrit71]

25. James Hewitt killed Diana?

Huh?

[hollywood926]

27. Ha ha! How is that Charles still thinks Harry is his son?

Harry looks exactly like James Hewitt! It's so funny! Sad, too.

[davsand]

20. Harry is following family tradition.

Have any of you seen this CNN International story?

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/01/13/britain.royals.reut/
Britain's gaffe-prone royal family

I'm not able to cut and paste all the pertinent info in that article, but the bottom line is that The Royals are not exactly in a position to throw stones at ANYBODY.

Just a couple of the high points? Edward VIII, Harry's great-great uncle, is accused of being a Nazi sympathizer and his wife Walllace Simpson has been linked to a couple of Nazis (There is a photo in that article of Simpson and Edward 8 WITH Hitler!)

British Intelligence had prevented the Duke from becoming King of England, using Simpson as a pretext to make him abdicate. They didn't want a Nazi sympathiser on the throne of the British Empire.

The Duke of Windsor had been under observation by the British Security Service since 1936 when Military Intelligence had established his links with minor officials of the Nazis regime.

You have got to remember that the British monarchy is related to the German monarchy, however, there is an awful lot of historical evidence out there that seriously suggests that Edward 8 probably was not only sympathetic to the Nazis, but feeding them info. There was a thing on the History Channel a while back where they had letters from figures of that time discussing what to do about Edward. Winston Churchill was NOT amused.

Harry's Grandpa, Prince Philip, has a pretty long track record of public remarks indicating (at best) a lack of racial sensitivity...

I realize you can't expect much out of a kid whose Dad wants to be reincarnated as a tampon, but jeesh--you'd THINK the Royals had learned something over the years!

Laura