Photographs of Prince Harry, 20, wearing a swastika armband at a private birthday party appeared on the front page of The Sun on Thursday, prompting sharp criticism from Jewish groups and a public apology from the prince himself.
The images were taken the previous Saturday at a party in Wiltshire attended by about 250 guests, organized around a "Natives and Colonials" theme. Harry wore a khaki uniform bearing Nazi insignia the newspaper compared to Rommel's Afrika Korps. His brother William was also present, in a lion and leopard outfit.
Harry, third in line to the throne after Prince Charles and William, issued a brief statement: "It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize." The Board of Deputies of British Jews accepted the apology but noted the poor timing, coming weeks before Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, the anniversary of the 1945 Soviet liberation of Auschwitz.
Several politicians called on Harry to withdraw his application to train at Sandhurst, the military officer academy, arguing the episode showed unsuitable judgment for an aspiring army officer. The incident added to a growing list of controversies surrounding the prince, who had earlier been linked to a scuffle with a photographer outside a nightclub.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in January 2005, in its own words.