Art World

Artist Removes Prince Harry Kills Me Banner From Venice Biennale

Correction: A rep for the artist has contacted the Royalist to make the following point:

"The decision to remove the banner was made over two months before, and so it never made it to Venice."

My orignal story....

A banner at the Venice Biennale reading, "Prince Harry Kills Me" has been removed on the grounds it could act as a provocation for attacks on British servicemen. The banner was part of artist Jeremy Deller's work at the British pavilion and has been removed at the request of the British Council.

The piece also includes images of a bird of prey, which Harry was accused of shooting in 2007. He has always maintained he was not involved in the death of two harrier hawks on the Sandringham estate in 2007, and nothing to the contrary has ever been proved.

"We asked Jeremy to reconsider the banner and poster … on the grounds that it could potentially be misconstrued in environments where the British army is currently deployed and perceived to be disrespectful of those who had lost their lives," a British Council spokesman told the Guardian. “The obvious risk was that in less secure environments, where British troops and indeed the British Council are on the ground – most notably in Afghanistan, where Prince Harry has served – these works could have been used to justify violence or attacks."

In January the prince talked of his role as helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, saying: "If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game, I suppose."

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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