Brits shrug off nude photos of Prince Harry
LONDON (AP) - Britain's Prince Harry has been caught on camera doing something embarrassing - again.
Celebrity gossip website TMZ on Tuesday posted photos of the 27-year-old royal cavorting nude with an unidentified woman in a VIP suite in Las Vegas. It's hardly the first time the prince - who allegedly disrobed as part of a game of strip pool - has been filmed misbehaving. The third-in-line to the throne was famously photographed wearing a Nazi uniform for a costume party, and in another photo-gaffe he was seen cupping the breast of a female TV presenter. Some would argue footage in which he was heard to utter a racial slur while teasing a fellow army cadet from Pakistan was more serious.
If the reaction of Britons to Harry's Las Vegas adventure was anything to go by, the nude photos will do little to tarnish his generally positive, party-prince image. The Associated Press asked an assortment of royal watchers and British subjects about what they thought about the prince's naked romp.
Did Harry do anything wrong?
Jim Conlon, a 60-year-old construction worker: "The answer to that is categorically NO." Conlon, who was unloading bags of material from a car, seemed genuinely offended by the very question. "I'd be proud of him if he were my son," he said.
Conlon's opinion was typical of a country where thousands of streets and pubs are named for the royal family. Polls published earlier this year showed support for the monarchy at an all-time high, perhaps buoyed by the celebrations surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60 years on the throne.
Interviews with Londoners up and down the capital's Prince of Wales Road yielded few critics of Harry's antics.
Craig Martin, 38, another construction worker: "He's the prince. He can have any bird he wants!"
Down the road, caregiver Shirley Ashard laughed at the news of Harry's naked adventure, dismissing questions about the propriety of running around a plush hotel room in the buff with a boys-will-be-boys shrug.
"I've got kids. They do things like that," the 59-year-old said. "He's a lad, for God's sake."
Will Harry's romp harm the image of the prince, or the royal family?
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine: Not likely. Seward said Harry's party-boy image was part of his approachable, normal persona.
"Of course it's stupid, but it doesn't make people dislike him - quite the opposite," she said.
"It shows that he is a guy who gets into trouble and he's the one people love to love. It could only happen to Harry - but we love him for it."
She did think, though, that Harry might get a talking-to from Prince Charles. "I would think his father would speak to him," she said.
Doesn't the royal family have a history of bad-boy behavior?
Yes, said Anne Sebba, biographer of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whose affair with King Edward VIII - Harry's great-great-uncle - led to his abdication in 1936.
That king's grandfather, Edward VII - who reigned from 1901 to 1910 - had many affairs, parking his carriage outside the houses of his mistresses while he visited.
"The staff would be very discreet," said Sebba. "People knew; they just didn't talk about it."
Edward VIII and Simpson were well known in upper-crust circles for their hedonistic parties - and some visitors wrote their shocked reactions in diaries.
"It didn't reach the papers," Sebba said. "It is just in the private diaries. Nobody was taking photographs. Nobody was posting it on the Internet.
"The old system depended on incredible discretion, loyalty and deference - and all that has gone. The royal family has had to make themselves so open and available and this is the downside of the coin."
Prince Harry's office confirmed Wednesday that the photos were of the prince but declined to make any further comment.
What about the prince's privacy?
The blurry, low-resolution photographs appear to have been snapped from inside a hotel suite, and it isn't clear that the prince was aware that they were being taken.
That could be a violation of the royal's privacy. It might also explain why Britain's scandal-hungry tabloids - normally avid consumers of titillating photos - were steering clear of the images.
Ashard, the caregiver, said the only outrage she could muster was against the photographer.
"That's out of order," she said. "How would you like it if someone took pictures of you in your hotel room?"
Celebrity gossip website TMZ on Tuesday posted photos of the 27-year-old royal cavorting nude with an unidentified woman in a VIP suite in Las Vegas. It's hardly the first time the prince - who allegedly disrobed as part of a game of strip pool - has been filmed misbehaving. The third-in-line to the throne was famously photographed wearing a Nazi uniform for a costume party, and in another photo-gaffe he was seen cupping the breast of a female TV presenter. Some would argue footage in which he was heard to utter a racial slur while teasing a fellow army cadet from Pakistan was more serious.
If the reaction of Britons to Harry's Las Vegas adventure was anything to go by, the nude photos will do little to tarnish his generally positive, party-prince image. The Associated Press asked an assortment of royal watchers and British subjects about what they thought about the prince's naked romp.
Did Harry do anything wrong?
Jim Conlon, a 60-year-old construction worker: "The answer to that is categorically NO." Conlon, who was unloading bags of material from a car, seemed genuinely offended by the very question. "I'd be proud of him if he were my son," he said.
Conlon's opinion was typical of a country where thousands of streets and pubs are named for the royal family. Polls published earlier this year showed support for the monarchy at an all-time high, perhaps buoyed by the celebrations surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60 years on the throne.
Interviews with Londoners up and down the capital's Prince of Wales Road yielded few critics of Harry's antics.
Craig Martin, 38, another construction worker: "He's the prince. He can have any bird he wants!"
Down the road, caregiver Shirley Ashard laughed at the news of Harry's naked adventure, dismissing questions about the propriety of running around a plush hotel room in the buff with a boys-will-be-boys shrug.
"I've got kids. They do things like that," the 59-year-old said. "He's a lad, for God's sake."
Will Harry's romp harm the image of the prince, or the royal family?
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine: Not likely. Seward said Harry's party-boy image was part of his approachable, normal persona.
"Of course it's stupid, but it doesn't make people dislike him - quite the opposite," she said.
"It shows that he is a guy who gets into trouble and he's the one people love to love. It could only happen to Harry - but we love him for it."
She did think, though, that Harry might get a talking-to from Prince Charles. "I would think his father would speak to him," she said.
Doesn't the royal family have a history of bad-boy behavior?
Yes, said Anne Sebba, biographer of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whose affair with King Edward VIII - Harry's great-great-uncle - led to his abdication in 1936.
That king's grandfather, Edward VII - who reigned from 1901 to 1910 - had many affairs, parking his carriage outside the houses of his mistresses while he visited.
"The staff would be very discreet," said Sebba. "People knew; they just didn't talk about it."
Edward VIII and Simpson were well known in upper-crust circles for their hedonistic parties - and some visitors wrote their shocked reactions in diaries.
"It didn't reach the papers," Sebba said. "It is just in the private diaries. Nobody was taking photographs. Nobody was posting it on the Internet.
"The old system depended on incredible discretion, loyalty and deference - and all that has gone. The royal family has had to make themselves so open and available and this is the downside of the coin."
Prince Harry's office confirmed Wednesday that the photos were of the prince but declined to make any further comment.
What about the prince's privacy?
The blurry, low-resolution photographs appear to have been snapped from inside a hotel suite, and it isn't clear that the prince was aware that they were being taken.
That could be a violation of the royal's privacy. It might also explain why Britain's scandal-hungry tabloids - normally avid consumers of titillating photos - were steering clear of the images.
Ashard, the caregiver, said the only outrage she could muster was against the photographer.
"That's out of order," she said. "How would you like it if someone took pictures of you in your hotel room?"
Oh, just leave the man alone. So what if he's royalty? He is third in line for the throne so its not likely he will ever be king. I'm sure his ancestors did scandalous things as well, however they didn't have cell phones to take pictures back then, internet to posts the pictures and people interested in the scandal. Wait, I take back that third remark. Most people, regardless of the era you come from, like hearing/seeing scandal.
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He's just a kid doing what kids do. He isn't married, doesn't have any illegitimate children out there (that we're aware of) and he didn't hurt anyone. Leave him be to live his life.
Sounds like he was having fun. OMG he's human? Not a robot? Leave him alone.Â
And we care about him, why?
Prince Harry naked in a suite playing games with friends and such. Â Offensive? Â Never. Â Prince Harry naked on the street eating someone's face like that kook earlier this year? Â Very offensive. Â Ha!
That's misbehaving?
OK - whatever....
Thought what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas . . .Â
Considering it came from those losers at TMZ, it's not even worth looking at. (the story, not the pictures.)
 @ZosoÂ
Oh, you might find it worth a look!
@Doxie @Zoso -- totally worth the look!!! ;)
So, he's a healthy man whose behavior is not unlike any other guy.
Just leave him alone.
Ah yeah.Â
Note to Harry.
Next time close the drapes.
@mstipton Except that these were most certainly taking in the room by one of the "friends" he was partying with.
There is a price to be paid for being wealthy and famous... A lack of privacy is probably the most severe price. Â I'm still amazed at the high level of support for the Monarchy. Â Only from the perspective of what would happen if a Monarchy were formed today in this Country. Â Being born into royalty seems so outdated and out of touch, it wouldn't fly here. Â There may be good reasons for it to exist there, but on the surface it seems silly.Â
 @eichler34 I encourage you to read about Queen Elizabeth and what she has done in her 60 years on the throne ... there is a reason why every Prime Minister has met with her weekly to discuss the state of affairs (and I'm not talking about Prince Harry's escapades) in the world, and rarely misses out on the opportunity to seek her counsel.  It is no small feat to make the Royal Family relevant in today's world, and I (being a citizen of the Commonwealth) feel she's done an admirable job.  I can assure you that 'silly' is not an adjective I would assign to the tradition.  However, I have taken a look beneath the surface.
 @eichler34 Generational legacy is more the issue, and a worthy one to maintain, even if someone happens to call their version of it 'royalty' and 'nobility'.  I am quite concerned by the blase beliefs instilled in young minds these days in which a person will just drop whatever job they are doing like it didn't matter to begin with - that is the wrong thought process.  They think they must get cheap labor jobs at McDonald's and then make their way up a ladder with thousands of others - this after having been through an expensive college education!  No, I'll have none of it.
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I am doing the work that many of my forebears started (or worked from their own lineages), carrying their legacy and hard work forward into this generation. Â When something goes awry, I won't just quit. Â I think that this generational legacy being lost in our modern age is the greatest detriment to its continued success.
The only embarrassment for Harry or any young man would be his grandmother knowing his sexual proclivities. Sure grandma knows heâs a young man with sexual interests, but she doesn't want to see him full frontal so-to-speak. Harry needs to learn with whom he can and cannot party. The lesson is to find the right people and have everyone surrender phones at the door.
Flaunting the royal jewels again is he?
It was unacceptable that the photos were taken and leaked (most likely without his knowledge or consent), but there's nothing at all wrong with what he was doing in the privacy of a hotel room with other consenting adults. He's young and he's having fun and he's a real person. Surprise! This is the kind of stuff royals and other elite and wealthy people have been doing for centuries, only no one used to make portraits or photographs of it and sell them on the street corner. But much more racy happenings than this went on ALL the time. The only person who should be ashamed is the person who took the photos and spread them around or (more likely) sold them.
 @spacegoddess this is the kind of thing that MANY do.. this is not a "royals" thing.. and unacceptable? Who the heck are you? LOL get a grip and handle your own life.. unacceptable? Come on.. .. I love how you say "other elite and wealthy people".. LOL and the picture taker ashamed? I don't think so. .why would what "he" does be ok and what others do shameful? Get a grip.. your head is up somewhere! LOL
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@jimbonw Please, I think YOU need to get serious. You sound p-hurt or something.
Could you rewrite this so it can be understood, instead of just a bunch of rambling soundbites? I don't think you read spacegoddess's comment very well. You completely misinterpreted it.
Hope he used protection especially with multiple partners. And those who took photos are jerks.
It's not like he was parading around the gaming area or the lobby -- he was in the privacy of a hotel room. Shame on whoever took the photo.
@LovesToTravel: I agree with you completely. So he was at a private party having a good time.  He was doing what 99.9% of us have done. The only thing the Queen or anyone else should be steamed about is that some jerk took pictures that wound up being published. (However, I have to admit I enjoyed looking at some of them. ;-)
He sounds like a fun guy!
Someone was messing with the gene "pool" when this guy was made. I bet grandma is so proud.
@Klondiko: If Queen is like many other grandmas I know, including my own, she is neither shocked nor surprised. Though she probably doesn't want to actually see the pictures. I do think she'd like to string up by their toenails the people who are responsible for trying to embarrass the Royal Family.
 @Klondiko Every family member has one, it's fun until they are old and are  an embarrassment to the family.  Even the royal family it would appear.
Good, hes an adult, I hope they catch the idiot that took these.
 @Carl Fardman Is the person on the run?
@oledawg @Carl Fardman:Â If he/she isn't they should be very worried.