In the light of the merry news that Prince Charles is to wed his longtime companion, Camilla Parker-Bowles, it seems a tad unsporting to dredge up Prince Harry's exploits with the Nazi fancy dress once again.
Here in Cracow, where world leaders descended for the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation, the press followed suit in denouncing Prince Harry. However, there are a couple of points about the blunder that were skirted over in the press, both here and abroad, and they might help to at least explain why young Harry chose the costume in the first place, even if they do not justify it.
Before we consider what lies within the bounds of comedy, and indeed, an Italian film director has already made a successful and much-loved comedy film about Auschwitz, let's consider the English themselves for a minute.
They may be stiff, pompous and displaying increasing signs of becoming a nation of loutish drunkards, but at least one thing they have in their favour is their sense of humour.
Yet why did Harry think that it might be quite amusing to wear a swastika on his arm for a private fancy dress party?
The thing is, if we look at English culture, it's revealing to see just how the Nazis feature in general. Some of the most famous British portrayals of Hitler's cohorts have been comical ones. Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Allo Allo, Harry Enfield, all of these shows have included comical portrayals of Germans that use Nazism as their font of inspiration.
And again, before we delve into whether this was suitable material for comedy, it's worth pointing out that those same shows were a tremendous success in Europe and America, not to mention Germany too, where it is now of course illegal to dress up as a Nazi. Even in Poland, which suffered grotesquely under the Nazis, 'Allo Allo' was a runaway hit, in spite of, or because of, its clownish cast of comical Nazis.
Thus whilst journalists from around the world (and of course from England itself) were displaying righteous indignation at Harry's choice of costume, it's likely that those same pundits have once laughed their socks off to John Cleese's 'don't mention the war' antics or Harry Enfield's 'this would never have happened under the Nazis' routine.
One thing is clear, whilst it may not justify his action, Prince Harry grew up in a country where the Nazi's were an acceptable subject of comedy.
In this respect it's pertinent to note that regardless of the morality of comedy itself, the British experience of the Second World War was rather abstract compared to those of the occupied countries.
There were tragic losses, but the truth is that for most English soldiers, the Second World War was a sort of exciting, swashbuckling adventure. British losses were a fraction of those of say Poland or Russia (or Germany itself for that matter).
The British themselves have not had to suffer the humiliation of occupation since as far back as 1066. Bizarre as it might sound, many British veterans look back on the war as a happy period - a time of camaraderie and adventure. And of course, they won.
Popular post-war films such as 'The Great Escape' continued to paint the picture of a war of comic book Nazi's and swashbuckling adventure for the Brits, and it's an image that has endured in the British consciousness.
It's worth acknowledging that some of the most popular British tabloids, not least 'The Sun', still propagate a schoolboyish, simplistic view of Germany, especially when it comes to the notorious English/German football matches.
So there clearly is a warped view of the war in Britain. What's more, an alarming recent poll conducted by the BBC revealed that 45% of Britons didn't even know what Auschwitz was.
None of this justifies Harry's move, nor does it reflect especially well on British culture. Indeed, the very fact that he was unaware of the issue of the 60th anniversary Auschwitz's liberation (which fell a fortnight after his costume blunder) is highly lamentable for Prince Harry.
He made a mistake, and he's had to pay for it.
Of course, one can't help wondering why a butler didn't have a quiet word with the Prince before he slipped out the door. Was there no one to say ' Your Highness, don't you think it could be a bit dicey if you go out wearing a swastika? What will the newspapers think of it?" But this was the sleepy British countryside, not cut-throat London.
Arguably, the Brits do need to start painting a more balanced picture of the war, and perhaps Harry did make a total blunder. But to single out the Prince as a loose cannon - a figure completely out of step with everybody else - is simply balderdash, to use a good old-fashioned expression. For better or for worse, the Nazi's have been an accepted figure of fun in Britain since the war began in 1939.
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