The video, was filmed in 2006 while Harry was still a cadet . Never intended for public consumption, it was possibly released to the News of the World by one of the prince's fellow soldiers trying to cash in .
News of the World calls it "Harry's Racist Video Shame". But I think very few UK or US military veterans would find it very shocking, it just looks like a few soldiers having some fun. Humor is, after all, a longstanding staple of military life.
You can view the video here though and judge for yourself.
The "racist" bits, in case you don't notice, are where Harry refers to a Pakistani comrade as "Our little Paki friend Ahmed" and to a white comrade as a "raghead" due to his head covering.
Prince Harry also jokes around about military life - what a shocking scandal! And the prince pretends to talk by phone to his grandmother the Queen, calling her "Granny" and telling her "God save you" (from "God save the queen", get it?).
News of the World, responsible for sparking off the whole scandal, reports that
A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, chaired by Sir Trevor Phillips, said they would be investigating. The spokesman said: ”These appear to be disturbing allegations and we will be asking the Ministry of Defence to see the evidence, share their investigation with us and their plans for dealing with it.”
The Muslim Council isn't pleased :
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Great Britain said: ”It beggars belief that Prince Harry did not realise just how crude and offensive such a remark is. ”The army is looking to recruit from minority communities and this kind of remark will not help the impression that the army is one of the last refuges of prejuidice towards minorities.”
Even a "Conservative" party member of Parliament joined in the pile-on:
Tory MP and former army officer Patrick Mercer said: ”Whatever the context, this fine young officer has made a serious error of judgement that will cause great offence.”It is unforgiveable.”
And of course the Ministry of Defence is not pleased:
A senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official told Sky News: "This sort of language is not acceptable in the modern army."
