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Prince Harry Hits NYC
Prince Harry finishes his whirlwind 36-hour New York trip tonight. VIEW OUR GALLERY of photos from the sporty, charitable trip that Robert Lacey says shows he's his mother's son.
Prince Harry's first official visit to Manhattan on Friday morning was to lay a wreath at ground zero before going on to meet U.S. veterans who were injured in the war on terror.
“Serving in Afghanistan has made him very alive to these issues,” says one of his aides.
View Our Gallery of Photos From Prince Harry’s New York Trip.
The prince’s 10-week tour of combat duty in Helmand province last year certainly made the Taliban and al Qaeda very alive to him. Al-Ekhlaas (“Loyalty”), the Islamist Web forum, called for the prince to be executed and for a video of his beheading to be sent to the queen.
“Nothing will break the heart of his grandmother but only if she loses him,” exhorted the password-protected Web site. “My dear brothers in Allah, carry on provoking to kidnap this precious infidel.”
Harry made no public comment, but was photographed soon afterward in a baseball cap inscribed with the motto “We Do Bad Things to Bad People.” His bravery was much lauded by his army colleagues.
“Damn right! Respect to the bloke for getting on the ground,” declared one of the U.K. troop Web sites.
John Stillwell, PA / AP Photo
“Well done, Ginge [Ginger],” wrote another British blog, which praised him for “having the balls to take on the Taliban.”
Then, 10 months later, the soldier prince was seen in another light, still dressed in combat fatigues, but now dangling a cigarette languidly from the corner of his mouth as part of a homemade spoof video in which he referred to one of his fellow soldiers as his “little Paki friend” and addressed another as “Dan the Man...F*** me, you look like a raghead.”
The video concluded with the prince making a mock phone call to his grandmother the queen. “Love to Grandpa [Prince Philip] and the corgis,” he smirked. “God Save You.”
The contrast summed up the trouble—and the fascination—with Harry. The dashing young prince has a gift for the most catastrophic errors of judgment. Invited four years ago, age 20, to a fancy dress party with a “Colonial and Native” theme, he did not opt for a classic British imperial uniform—of which, one imagines, there must be groaning wardrobes at the palace. Instead he selected himself an elegant khaki desert outfit like the one sported by Rommel’s Afrika Korps, complete with a bright red and black Nazi armband.
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Robert Lacey is the author of Majesty and reported on Prince Harry’s Manhattan visit for Good Morning America. For details of Inside the Kingdom, his new book on Saudi Arabia, visit www.insidethekingdom.net.
I always liked this kid. I'm glad he is following in his mom's footsteps. She was a blessing in this world.
I agree, this guy is jnot OLD SCHOOL royal....He seems to be alot like his mom, smart, a little outspoken. Willing to fight for hios country and show empathy to others...
I don't get why Americans go ape over the royals. Isn't the very idea of royalty against everything America represents? And I'm not impressed with this kid, find me stories about Americans who have made something out of nothing -- if you cared less about celebrity culture and more about real life, Daily Beast, you'd find some amazing people to write about instead. Since when does famous automatically mean interesting?
Amen, Bonnie.
Who freaking cares about the royals? We fought a war to get rid of them. But I don't think Tina Brown is going to be satisfied until the United States gets over this meritocracy phase and adopts a constitutional monarchy.
"But despite his swagger, his growing charity work shows he's his mother's son."
Well he'd have to be. Because everybody knows he ain't his father's! ho ho!
baddum dum, tish...
His father raised him.
James Hewitt raised him?
Nannies and private schools raised him.
I've met a few people who rightly or wrongly consider themselves part of the tiny global elite and I've never missed the opportunity to diplomatically egg them to speak out on their views about "the masses" purely in a private way. I've been surprised about how benign (if patronising) they seemed to be. They may want to control "us", but they genuinely want to help as well. Frankly I think most people would be happy with that arrangement.
Count me in as part of the tiny global elite.
For those of you who like fairy tales, the stories of royalty like this are right up your alley. But for many of us who work for a living, the idea of being GIVEN MILLIONS, privilege, and constant attention ONLY because of the family into which your are born is to vomit. Take away their taxpayer subsidy and they're a reality show that will close faster than Hulk Hogan's. Do you think for one moment that little Harry will be put in harm's way anywhere in the world, let alone Iraq?
I dont give a sh*t about Charles, Philip, Harry, William, or the damn queen. Kick the spoiled rotten family out of Buckingham Palace and make it a rehab for soldiers who've had their limbs blown off. Give their government treasure to the starving.
Let THEM pay for their own boring melodrama.
Id rather my kids be interested in the royals than Paris Hilton and Britney spears smearing their private bits and sex tapes all over the Internet. Though we must be careful of uniformed nationalism these days, at least he's serving a cause, and he's actually not a complete idiot.
I think that picture of Harry shaking Sgt. Paul Yarbrough prosthetic hand is classic. That is what Prince Harry is good at. And that looks like an incredible hand.
I don't think we should be glamorizing war.
I can see how a prince is able to plant a tree in dress shoes, and still look presentable, but it is all choreographed.
Someone will finish the job wearing sensible shoes or maybe even boots.
He really does look so much like his father, specially in uniform.
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James Hewitt?
OMG...he is so delicious! I wanna eat him up! Yum.
I love Harry and he is a generous person as was his mother. Quite a tribute to a good upbringing.
Thank you.
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