Should Prince Harry apologise?

[DillyDally]

or not? Discuss

Aloha has said it all much better than I could, but I agree with her 100%.

I didn't do history past the 3rd year, and didn't learn anything about WW2, and I don't recall it being talked about much at home, but I certainly knew about the holocaust at age 20.

spacedonkey - and it's also covered very well in austrian schools as I partly grew up there as well. Fair enough I had a vested interest as my grandfather was jewish and my best friend is as well, but there was no way around knowing about it all. Especially growing up in Munich we had at least 2 outings to Dachau Concentration Camp which is near there. Quite daunting for a group of 15 year olds!

dp's nephew goes to eton - I'll ask him about this next time I see him!

issymum - ypu're assuming they weren't too blasted to notice... ?

I think this is a good argument for why he should join the army and learn some discipline etc

I am apalled that people today don't know about the Holocaust - it's not ancient history - it is something that happened in many people's lifetime, my mother included.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to wear such a uniform 'for fun' - seems grossly insensitive towards people alive today who survived those awful times.

You're right, iota, it's not ancient history - living members of my family were there and we as a family still bear the scars.

Everyone involved in this debate is kind of right: it was appalling behaviour AND it wasn't surprising behaviour for a 20 year old. It seems to me that the point is not to debate how racist this guy is, but to despair at the crass self-satisfied insensitivity of the over-privileged Hoorays at this party - Natives and Colonials, FFS! - and to ponder the horrible truth that they will inherit the country, if not run it.

Yeah old man on radio this morning 'when I was 20 I was fighting against people wearing Nazi uniform'

I think Harry was foolish to wear that outfit but I do not think he meant to offend anyone.

However I am astonished that none of the friends, royal relatives and advisors at the party with him saw fit to get him to change. And they did not all have the inexperience of youth as a defence.

If people can really come out of school not knowing anything about the Holocaust then we'd better hope that the equivalent of Schindler's List gets made again, and soon. I have to admit we didn't cover it in history at school because I'd taken O level by the time we'd got to the start of the 20th Century, but we covered it a bit when we were doing Merchant of Venice in English. What really made it hit home was a TV series that was on at the time- I never watched it but there was so much coverage that you couldn't not learn about it. Surely at the very least Anne Frank's Diary must be covered in lessons?

I really do think it might be a generational thing in general though (although not in Harry's case because he's a member of the Windsor family and by definition that means he's not a normal 20 year old). Someone who was around 60 called in to a phone in I happened to be listening to yesterday, to say that when she was young, they used to use the image of Lord Kitchener - you know the one, your country needs you - for all sorts of things, and had posters hanging up which ridiculed it, and old people used to tell them they had no respect for the sufferings of the people who had died in the first world war. To her, of course, the first world war WAS ancient history, even though she obviously would have known people who lived through it - but that's where the blithe obliviousness of youth comes in. She said this was just a similar thing. I'm not sure if I agree with her, but it was an interesting analogy.

FFS!!!!!!!!

God, how depressing Pamina.

And I would like to repoeat, HE'S NOT THAT YOUNG. He's an adult.

I agree MI.

I agree too MI. I asked my 11-year-old ds if he would go to a fancy dress party wearing a Nazi uniform and he said he wouldn't. When I asked him why he said: "Because the Nazis were really evil and it would offend a lot of people."
If an 11-year-old has the sense to realise this then what excuse does a 20-year-old have?

We covered the causes of WW2 but can't remember if the holocaust itself was covered (Catholic school). However, one nun did keep referring to it since "us Catholics were next you know". But I definitely knew about it. There was a tv series (like Roots) with Meryl Streep in it - might even have been called Holocaust - and that was watched by nearly everyone when I was at school.

Oh yes, that's the one I meant Tinker- I remember it had Meryl Streep in it, and I think you're right that it was just called Holocaust.

Pamina, I watched Shindler's List in a movie theater in the US, and I can assure you no-one was laughing.

As a teacher of German I have been called Nazi and Hitler by children who clearly know it's offensive and mean to be offensive. I would be amazed that Harry's extremely expensive and allegedly thorough education would have missed such a large part of our modern history.

Nazi-ism and the Holocaust are on the National Curriculum for Key Stage 3, though schools can choose whether to cover it or not.
At GCSE, which is no longer compulsory for History, it is covered by at least one exam board.

Whether Harry meant to be offensive or not is beside the point - he was offensive to many, many people. Either he was ignorant of the offence his costume would cause or he didn't care. Both options seem likely. He seems to require more education, but preferably not from the the Sun. Harry is an adult who is about to start training to lead others into life and death situations. What does his so-called sense of humour say about his ability to handle sensitive situations in Iraq, or Sudan or anywhere else troops might be sent?

Well said, nome.

I am so shocked at Harry's choice of costume that I really don't know where to start (or finish). I am aghast that he might think it appropriate to done a Nazi uniform or that he would even want to. I do think that he should make a verbal public apology as he has offended a great many people and I'm still not convinced he sees what is wrong with what he has done. Perhaps he might also visit Auschwitz and Yad Va Shem to gain some kind of understanding of what was happening 50-60 years ago. However, on the basis of past form, I'm not sure that he has the ability to see any further than his own social life which appears to be a full-time job in itself.