Sunday's News of the World has broken with a story accusing Prince Harry of using racist language. In a home video obtained by the tabloid newspaper, Prince Harry is heard to refer to a colleague as "our little Paki friend Ahmed". Robert Jobson, Royal Editor at NOTW, talking on Sky News has described the language as "clearly a bad choice of words" by the Prince. The language will shock many people as the word 'Paki' is clearly a racist term. Clarence House has said Prince Harry has apologized for the language heard on the tape and said that no offence was intended. In another part of the tape Harry is also heard to say another colleague looked like a "raghead", a coloquial term for the Taleban.
Inayat Bungawala, from the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said he was disappointed by the language used. "There's no way one can just airbrush these remarks out" and called on the Prince to make a public apology. He added that the story would have an effect on the armed forces. "The army's image will affected" he told Sky News.
Asked if the Muslim Council could forgive and forget such comments, Mr Bungawala said, "It's not a hanging offence, but we hope we can move on". Ingrid Seward of Majesty Magazine believed the paper was rather over-egging the story. "There are far worse things said in the armed forces and the story has been blown out of all proportion", she said. "I really just think Harry was just mucking in with his friends". However Geoff Meade, Sky News defence correspondent said, "The third in line for the throne should know better, and it now presents the British army with a problem since he's their poster boy".
It is not the first time Prince Harry has courted controversy. In 2005 he was photographed at a fancy-dress party wearing a Nazi uniform and a swastika. Following that incident the Prince was forced to make a public apology. Ingrid Seward said that an apology may well be needed in order to put the story to rest.
Speaking on Sky News, Steven McLaughlin, author of Squaddie: A Soldiers Story, described the whole issue as a “storm in a teacup”. He dismissed the issue as one of ‘institutionalised racism’ calling it a “bit of silliness”. However the MoD have released a statement in which they say, “This sort of language is not acceptable in the modern armed forces” [Sky News / BBC / News of the World]. The story pushed the story about the continuing conflict in Gaza off the main headlines on the BBC as well as Sky News and is likely to dominate news bulletins in the coming days.
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