One thing I find quite strange about the furore over Prince Harry1 dressing up in a Nazi uniform for a party is that so many commentators and royal apologists keep referring to Harry as a boy. The guy is half way through his 21st year for god’s sake2.
Harry’s a few months younger than my closest friend and there’s no way that she should be referred to as a girl in this sort of context. Are the references to Harry as a boy part of an attempt to downplay the stupidity of what he did or do they reveal the mindset of the commentators who perhaps consider anyone under the age of 25 as a child? On the other hand, perhaps they’re softening us up for the revelation that Harry is really a hobbit and will thus be considered a child until he’s 33.
1 I usually prefer to call Their Royal Irrelevances by their non-royal names, such that the Queen becomes Elizabeth Windsor for example, but I’m not really sure what Harry’s surname is. He’s probably Harry Windsor but, taking into account the complicated history of that part of his family, he could well be Harry Treehugger for all I know and possibly related to a horse on his father’s side3.
2 No, I haven’t undergone a sudden conversion to a life of religious piety. It’s a figure of speech.
3 And the Sugar Plum Fairy on his mother’s.
Posted 15 January 2005, 11:40 GMT