I'm a big fan of theme parties, but you've got to hand it to the Brits for coming up with some awesome ideas. The originators of the "Vicars and Tarts" scheme, as well as the inspiration for the "Professors and Sluts" genre, the United Kingdom has a long history of "fancy dress" fetes, both literary and real. You have to wonder, then, why the British uppercrust felt the need to go with the outr idea of a "native and colonial" party at the house of Olympian Robert Mead last week. And you have to marvel at the fact that with the rich history of British Imperialism, Prince Harry felt compelled to dress up as a Nazi, albeit one who served in Africa. Perhaps the Prince was too busy on the rugby fields of Eton to pay attention in geography class, or he watched too many Indiana Jones flicks. Still, the extreme insensitivity of this boneheaded move has prompted a variety of criticism on both sides of the Atlantic. The prince, and indeed everyone involved, should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
Understandably, both Jewish groups and members of the public at large have been outraged at Harry's questionable taste in costumes. Despite the apology issued by Prince Charles' office on behalf of his son, the actions of the royals have done little to assuage public outrage. Most of the objections seem to stem from the fact that Harry is too young to have been alive during the Holocaust. This in turn raises questions about how well the memory of the Holocaust has been passed down through the generations. In light of Harry's wardrobe malfunction, Robert Bozett, director of the library at Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, said "the lessons of the Holocaust have not really entered deeply within his understanding and consciousness." In addition to not excusing his actions, this image is particularly disturbing in the context of what it says about Harry's understanding of the Holocaust and of the understanding of his generation.
As if it weren't already outrageous enough, this latest scandal comes only two weeks before the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi internment camp. As a result, many groups have called for Harry to accompany his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, to the camps when she goes on a memorial visit. Prince Charles originally said that Harry would not go to Auschwitz, but has recently announced that there is a possibility Harry and William (who allegedly helped Harry pick out the notorious ensemble) would make a private visit in an attempt to make amends for their thoughtless act and better understand the significance of the event. As a contemporary of the prince's, I understand why the thought of facing something as sobering as the site of Auschwitz may be a frightening idea. As a Jew, however, I also understand that one of the most important things in a post-Holocaust world is to make sure that we never forget the horrors of the Shoah, a task that extends to Jews and non-Jews alike, so a visit to the site of these horrors would be appropriate.
In addition to the furor over the prince's imitation of the Fuehrer, there is another issue that none of the news reports seem to have touched upon, namely the incredible insensitivity of the British royalty dressing up as colonials and natives at a time when much of their former empire is in so much distress. Many of the areas affected by the recent tsunami were former possessions of the British Empire -- an empire whose legacy may have amplified the tsunami's devastation decades later. Perhaps in addition to gaining an understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust, the princes should also be made to understand the cost of the imperial policy that created their empire.
Ultimately, this scandal will be forgotten in a while, to be dredged up only by Kitty Kelley in her next expos. Hopefully, it will give the British princes, and perhaps the British public, a chance to better understand the horrors of the Holocaust, and maybe even the consequences of their imperial past. It may also serve as another strike against the monarchy in the U.K. If that is so, the royal family may find themselves clothed in only the memory of a past nobility. But hey, if that happens, imagine the costumes we could come up with. "Royals and Commoners" party, anyone?
