Sunday, January 11, 2009

His Royal Ineptitude

Prince Harry seems incapable of stringing two months together without some royally inept performance.

He did it again! After the scuffles with photographers, the nights out on the lash and his fancy dress Nazi uniform, the third in the line of succession to the throne was filmed in a video calling a British Asian soldier "paki" and another cadet a "raghead".

Let's rewind back to 2005 and the swastika incident. "I am very sorry and I didn't mean to cause offence", the Prince said back then. His full apology was followed by the famous "Harry will not apologise again" statement and the customary calls for the "need to move on", "leave him alone, he's a young man", "he needs to be supported now", etc.

But the job of leaving Harry alone becomes really difficult when the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II gets involved in more scandals than Gazza Gascoigne and Amy Winehouse put together. And each time, events unfold in the usual way:
a) Prince Harry says/does something idiotic. b) A Royal statement follows saying that Prince Harry fully understands and is extremely sorry for any offence. c) The hangers-on tell the press that the incident is being seen "out of context", that there was "no malice", and that it was "light-hearted". d) The paper report increasing public pleas to "leave him alone" for "he has since grown up".

Except that this pampered spoiled brat is in his twenties now. After all the training and the expensive education he's received, how long can St. James' Palace go on treating him as some sort of impulsive, naive child who's being unfairly judged? The notion that "someone in his position should know better" is so obvious that saying it feels ridiculous.

No doubt whatsoever that an ordinary soldier would have been kicked out of the army already.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Poor Harry. He's under such terrible terrible pressure...