Harry the Nazi: a defence of the idiot prince

So, Prince Harry, the nightmheir to the throne, has put his intellectually subnormal foot in it again. Prince William’s half-witted half-brother attended a fancy dress party held by Richard Meade, the triple Olympic gold medallist (1968 & 1972), and his fancy dress consisted of Rommel shirt with a bright red Nazi armband on the sleeve. Oh, and he had a fag on. A veritable tsunami of bad taste.

Harry has been drawing a lot of flack for this gaff. Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag, leader of spiritual leader of the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, described the photo of a swastika-adorned Prince as "a most unfortunate gift to neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers." Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative Party (a fringe British political group), who is himself Jewish, said "I think a lot of people will be disappointed to see that photograph and it will cause a lot of offense."

So far, not a single voice has been raised in support of the plonker's actions. However, we at the London News Review are staunch fans of Harry and are ready and willing to mount a clumsy defence:

1. Prince Harry is sensationally stupid. Seriously, the lad is practically retarded, so it’s appropriate to cut him some slack. It’s a small miracle every time he finds his mouth with his cigarette, so the fact that he would put on a Nazi armband and not think – at any point – that this might possibly be a really really wrong thing to do, is perfectly understandable. Questions must be asked of the people around him: his friends, his carers, his bodyguards. Did no one think to mention to the dribbling moron that maybe the pretty red armband with the funny black squiggle in the middle was maybe best left in the limo? Would you blame a coma victim for wetting the bed? No. So don’t be too harsh on Harry.

2. The theme of the fancy dress party, thrown by famous horseman and friend of Prince Charles, Richarde Meade, was – believe it or not – ‘Colonials and Natives’. Oh lordy. Colonials and Natives? What the **** are these people on? What century are they living in? Colonials and Natives? It beggars belief. Why not ‘Imperialists and Nig Nogs’? Or would that have been bad taste? So anyway, a fair share of the blame for Harry’s outfit must surely go to the imbecilic Richarde Meade and his appalling choice of party theme.*

3. Where did Harry get the armband? Presumably he went for advice to his grandfather, who delightedly threw open his closet doors to reveal rack upon rack of Gestapo jackets stormtrooper boots. Or maybe Prince Philip simply slipped off his dressing gown to reveal his own swastika armband, which he rolled off and pressed lovingly into Harry’s upturned palm. “Now off you go, you young scamp, and have fun.”

4. No one seems to have wondered: perhaps Prince Harry didn’t realize it was a fancy dress party? It’s possible he just came on from a meeting, and didn’t have time to change. In which case it is heartening to see that he has developed an interest in politics. An early brush with fascism didn’t do Ricky Tomlinson any harm, so let’s go easy on Harry: he may well grow out of it, and soften in his politics towards Stalinism instead.

5. Most crucially: this was a fancy dress costume. In this context, the Nazi uniform has become a novelty, a bit of fun. This is surely a good thing. It is wrong to be scared of it: if we let the taboo linger, if we draw an amazed breath when we see Harry sporting the emblem of the Nazi party, then the swastika still has its power. So much better for us to think of it as a daft (yet undeniably stylish) outfit in a fancy dress shop, hanging alongside a wizard’s garb, a policeman’s uniform and a fairy costume. To treat the swastika in this way is not in any way to deny the seriousness and horror of the holocaust, but to remove the last vestiges of power from the Nazis. Little does Harry realize it, but his wearing of the swastika is an important political statement: it is the militant trivialization and belittling of Nazism. Mel Brooks should think about finding a bit part for him in the Producers. I bet he throws a wonderful salute.

*Prince William went in a skin-tight leopard costume with tail and claws: a cleverly diplomatic outfit, although one has to ask what the heir to the throne was doing attending a party which had the theme 'Colonials and Natives'. Might it not have been more politically astute to have feigned a headache, stayed at home and watched a DVD of Zulu Dawn instead?

Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian people are eastern Slavs, just like Poles, Czechs and Slovaks are western Slavs and the fact that hundreds years ago the first group was a part of one territorial unit doesn't prove that there is some special connection between them.

By itself not. But is clear for nonbiased eyes, just read the history of Kievan Rus written by the third parties. Even in Polish language we have preserved word - Ruski, Rusin. In Russian language there is a distinction - Ruski chelovyek (Rus man) and Rosiyanin (Russian, Greater Russian) and so is Rossiya versus Rus. The title of Tsar was Tsar Sieya Rusi (tsar of all Russias) and Russian Imperator what was a different thing.

Didn't you and other fans of Putin claim a while ago that Ukrainian language is a mix of Polish & Russian and that Ukrainian nation doesn't really exist, but was invented by Germans ?

It is more complicated than that. The orginal Rus did not speak Russian or Ukrainian. They spoke the the local Rus[ian] dialects and the language of the court/church was more archaic than todays modern Rus[sian] languages. Literary Russian developed quite late and still locally you can find older dialects.

Ukrainian literary language was developed intentionally in westernmost Ukraine of XIX and includes elements of local Ukrainian/West Rus dialects plus Polish. The effort was to make Ukrainian as different from Russian as possible.

This effort was aided by Austrians who wanted to catalise the diveregence of Western Rus as a separate nation for obvious reasons. The final creation of a separate Ukrainian statehood was done by the Soviets who created Ukrainian republic in her present borders.

The prevalence of Russian language in eastern Ukraine is not caused by the Russification. It is rather reverse - the process of UKRAINIZATION initiated by Austria in Lvov region did not advance far enough to the east.

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