Prince Harry in row over racist jibe

Published on Saturday 10 January 2009 22:54

PRINCE Harry was last night forced to apologise after calling a fellow soldier a "Paki" and telling another he looked like a "raghead".

The 24-year-old, who is third in line to the throne, was filmed making the remarks in a video diary which he himself recorded. It is the latest race-related gaffe made by the young royal, who was previously castigated for dressing as a Nazi at a fancy dress party.

The comments were a recorded by the prince on a camcorder during a training exercise in Cyprus.

Last night St James's Palace issued an apology over the film, which was filmed in 2006.

In the footage, which was obtained by the New of the World newspaper, the Prince calls an Asian squaddie "our little Paki friend" and tells another officer cadet jokingly wearing a camouflage veil off duty: "F*** me, you look like a raghead" – an offensive term for Arabs.

The film shows the Prince zooming his camera over his sleeping comrades as they wait for a flight, before he stops and zooms into the face of an Asian recruit.

He then whispers: "Anybody else around here?… Ah, our little Paki friend… Ahmed."

After arriving in Cyprus, Harry is shown on exercise with his platoon when he makes a second offensive comment.

One of his comrades has put what appears to be some camouflage over his head, and as he looks up at the camera lens the Prince says: "It's Dan the Man… F*** me, you look like a raghead. Look at me. Look at me… look away."

He is also shown making fun of his grandmother, the Queen, who is the commander in chief of the British Armed Forces. The Prince is filmed staging a mock phone call, during which he says: "I've got to go, got to go. Send my love to the corgis. Send my love to the corgis and Grandpa… God Save You… yeah, that's great."

Throughout the film, Harry remarks several times: "All is good in the Empire."

Senior defence sources said there was now a serious question mark over whether he could remain in the Army. The high ranking Army source said: "Any ordinary officer would be asked to resign immediately for making such a comment."

A St James's Palace spokesman said: "Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause. However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend. Prince Harry used the term 'raghead' to mean Taliban or Iraqi insurgent."

Last night, Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrats defence spokesman, said: "If true, then Prince Harry will come to regret this a great deal. As part of the leadership of the nation it is neither reasonable or acceptable to use language like this which will rightly offend people.

Army sources claimed the Prince was in "serious trouble" over the incident. One said: "No one has worked harder to improve its problems with racism than the Army. This has brought shame on the forces and set us back years and years.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council for Great Britain also condemned the Prince's actions. Inayat Bunglawala said: "As an heir to the throne, Prince Harry should understand just how offensive the term 'Paki' is. His use of this extremely derogatory word legitimises it and that is utterly unacceptable."

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said: "Neither the Army nor the Armed Forces tolerates inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form.

"The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and all substantive allegations are investigated.

"We are not aware of any complaint having been made by the individual.

"Bullying and racism are not endemic in the Armed Forces."

A Royal history of accusations

Prince Harry's great grandmother Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was accused of being a racist bigot by Edward Stourton, the former BBC Radio 4 Today presenter.

In a book about political correctness, Stourton last year described a lunch with the Queen Mother in the 1990s in which they discussed the EEC.

Stourton revealed that the late royal referred to "Huns, Wops and Dagos" in an extraordinary xenophobic tirade against Europe.

Stourton wrote that the "The Nation's Favourite Grandmother was in fact a ghastly old bigot."

In 1986, the Duke of Edinburgh told a British student in China: "If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes."

In 1999, he caused more offence when he was shown a fuse box at a hi-tech factory in Edinburgh and remarked that it "looked as though it had been put in by an Indian".