HEIL HARRY

[Stanley]

HEIL HARRY

(14 January 2005)

We’ve all seen the picture of Prince Harry wearing what he evidently thinks is a suitable fancy dress costume. We’ve also seen the reaction to this after one of his fellow guests did a snap and sold it to the Mirror. (With friends like that, who needs enemies?) So what’s actually going on?
I don’t think for one second that this was a contrived insult, it was a gaffe made out of ignorance, lack of thought and a complete failure on the part of his advisers and mentors to monitor the public activities of an over-privileged, immature young man who has evidently no grasp at all of European history. In view of the well known sympathy towards the Nazis of various members of the royal family in the past it was also very unwise, people in glass houses... What worries me about the affair is the depth of insensitivity that this betrays inside the Royal family. One minute we see Harry being publicly paraded with his brother doing a bit of light lifting in aid of the Asian Tsunami Appeal, the next thing we see is this. If you are going to have ‘media advisers’ in order to bolster the battered image of the monarchy, for God’s sake get competent ones!
I also note that various views are being put forward as to his suitability as an officer cadet at Sandhurst. One thing I’m pretty certain about is that from my experience of the officer class, Hooray Henry yobbish behaviour isn’t going to be cured there. Far better to give him a job with a gang master doing casual labour in the fields or picking cockles on Morecambe Bay. That would be a dose of reality and I suspect that this is the educational element most needed in his life. I have no affection for royalty but I do have a certain sympathy for any deprived person. I think that to rear a young man to twenty years of age completely insulated from reality by his privileged position is a form of cruelty. His father has a valet to dress him and squeeze his toothpaste on to the brush, if it wasn’t so pathetic it would be hilarious! Harry could have done much worse, like beating up an old lady for her pension money. It could be argued that he hasn’t hurt anybody but himself. However, if he enjoys privilege he must accept responsibility and the only way he will be able to identify what this means is exposure to reality. Sandhurst won’t do this, I fear he will not be able to get this insight even if he wanted to and so will be a deprived person for the rest of his life.
Unearned privilege is bad for you, someone should issue a health warning. (14 January 2005)