UK News 14-01-2005 The Prince & The Swastika who: Prince Harry what: Goes to fancy dress party dressed as a Nazi where: Wiltshire when: Saturday snippet: "I am very sorry if I caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone," says Prince Harry, shortly after appearing on the front page of Thursday morning`s Sun dressed as a Nazi. "It was a poor choice of costume, and I apologise." The papers were slow to pick up on this one. Harry attended a fancy dress party hosted by Olympic gold medal-winning three-day eventer Richard Meade in Wiltshire on Saturday night. It was not till Wednesday night that Harry released his statement but the subsequent furore has made headlines around the world. Should the 20 year-old be forced to make a televised apology? Is he unfit to join the British army? Should he be forced to visit Auschwitz and watch Schindler`s List? "The gaffe threatens to embarrass the Queen, who will host a reception for survivors of the Holocaust on January 27, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz," notes The Mirror. Prince Philip was apparently "appalled" and, according to Friday`s Sun, Prince Charles has "hit the roof" and blames Harry`s 22 year-old brother William - who went to the party with him - for failing to foresee the controversy. All and sundry have been giving their opinions. "For Harry to put on a Nazi swastika is unbelievable and I don`t think just saying sorry would be enough," says 80 year-old former Lance-Corporal Robert Wilson in Friday`s Sun. But in the same day`s Independent, Jim Ratcliffe, an 82 year-old veteran of the D-Day Landings, says Harry is just a "silly lad" and the row over his costume is "a storm in a teacup" over a symbol that has little meaning to someone of Harry`s generation. "It is similar to how I felt about the events of the Boer War when I was young," he says, "which was nothing much whatsoever". In other royal news, The Queen was criticised for privately suggesting that Paris would probably pip London to the post in the race to host the 2012 Olympics. And on Tuesday, The Mirror reported from Isleworth crown court in London where it emerged that serial conman Michael Hammond had tricked his way into Windsor Castle by posing as a policeman. Reporter Jane Kerr says he pretended to be "a millionaire playboy who was friends with the royals and had celebrity lovers such as Jordan and Dannii Minogue". In court he "admitted being a public nuisance, falsely impersonating a police officer and wasting police time. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on February 4." [... more]

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