Pictures of William and Harry

[Kalafrana]

Thinking a bit, a lot of the justifications for Harry's behaviour are that he is just a young man having fun. However, it's perfectly possible to have 'fun' without going to Las Vegas. Maybe I'm being a bit puritanical here, and American Forumeers will sure correct me if I'm mistaken about the place, but Las Vegas is chiefly associated with gambling and what used to be called good time girls! Plenty of other places in America where Harry and his pals could enjoy themselves. For instance, if they had taken themselves off mountain biking in Yosemite they could have had a pleasant relaxing time with beers and barbeques.

I suppose it depends on what you think of as fun. But over many years Harry's father and assorted friends and relations have gone to the same small family-run hotel in Kitzbuhl in order to ski, with good food and wine, and complete discretion on the part of the hotel owners and staff.

A trip to Lesotho would be no bad thing. It happens that I know Harry's honorary 'sensible elder brother' Prince Seeiso - maybe a bit of advice from that quarter would help. Prince Seeiso is laid-back and has a great sense of humour, but I'm sure he knows where to stop!
Ann

[CHRISinUSA]

No doubt Ann, the press is already reporting this morning (unnamed sources of course) that Charles has advised his son to keep his head down for a while and let the frenzy subside.  He is due to report back to military duty on Monday, so will be safely away for a while anyway.

One thing bothering me is the attacks on the group they are calling the prince's "minders" - who apparently should have been responsible for stopping the incident from happening at all.  Unless I'm mistaken, Prince Harry does not travel on private holidays with a private secretary, press adviser, or other "courtier".  If he did, then obviously it would be their jobs to protect his image right along with protecting his body.  Instead  - the only "minders" accompanying him were his security detail, correct? 

A privately hired bodyguard for somebody like a Hollywood celebrity probably has the added assignment to protect image - by swiping cameras and cell phones and such, but isn't it true that a royal protection officer's job is only to protect his physical safety from threats -  not worry about his behavior or their public relations effects?  And yet some in the media are blaming them for the fiasco.  Seems quite unfair - Harry is an adult male, and responsible for his own image, IMHO.

[Kalafrana]

Chris

I agree. The security people are policemen whose job is security, no more. However, they are in a position to suggest to Harry that certain actions would be unwise. Of course, it's possible that they did and he didn't listen.

Ann

[Robert_Hall]

I see what you mean, Ann. But, his "security" may not have even been there, as he was in his own suite with friends of some sort. They could have been  in another  room altogether. BTW, I do not know which hotel  he was in, and I have been to a lot of LV hotels, but this place must have been huge, with  a billiard table

[CHRISinUSA]

It was the Encore Wynn.  According to media reports, Harry and his friends stayed in Room 2401 on the 63rd floor, which features three master bedrooms, its own private lift, butler service, a room with a massage table, gym equipment and of course, a pool table.  It reportedly costs £5,100 a night, yet reports suggest that owner Steve Wynn picked up the tab. 

The article I read also said the prince's security detail stayed in a nearby second suite.

[CHRISinUSA]

....and without planning to, the Prince is now slated to become an unofficial spokesperson for Las Vegas.  The extremely savvy Las Vegas visitors bureau is already planning a new advertising campaign based on it.  Drawing on its famous "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" slogan, the commercial attacks the as yet unknown person who released the Harry pictures, saying "shame on you for breaking the Vegas code," and then invites others to "turn in anyone else who breaks it".

Absolutely brilliant marketing, I think.  But sad for Harry, as it means his little episode will not be fading anytime soon but will be played and replayed on commercials (TV and print) for the foreseeable future.

[grandduchessella]

Chris

I agree. The security people are policemen whose job is security, no more. However, they are in a position to suggest to Harry that certain actions would be unwise. Of course, it's possible that they did and he didn't listen.

Ann

Couldn't they confiscate cell phones beforehand in the name of security or at least keep them from being used? Theoretically, a stranger could finagle their way into the prince's company for far more sinister reasons than what took place. Once in the room, a phone call or photograph could set a plan in motion. Or maybe I've seen too many movies.   However, it is the security detail's job to think up these kind of scenarios.

[Robert_Hall]

I know that hotel, Chris, but have never stayed there.  It is very expensive for LV  unless one is a big spender on the tables. I prefer the Bellagio myself. Perhaps he was comped ? Especially as the tourist  people are trying to use this episode for promotion.  Which they need  badly now with the current economy. I think he and Steve Wynn know each other so he could have comped him. Otherwise that would be a very   expensive suite to say  the least. Now he can market as  "The Royal Suite" ?
 As trashy as LV can be, I doubt we shall see any billboards of Harry  running around naked on billboards.

[IvanVII]

The justifications for the behaviour of this juvenile, self-indulgent buffoon get more and more bizarre by the day - even here!  Now it might even be a positive thing for the overall popularity of the monarchy?  Apart from Grandduchessella, I am obviously very out of touch with popular opinion in matters such as this. 

I think Harry has brought dishonour to the monarchy and particularly to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, especially in this year of her Diamond Jubilee.  I think he should issue a public apology.  This won't happen though.  He will be sent back to the army or the orphans of Lesotho will suddenly need a visit in the next few weeks, can't you see it? 

Grace I'm  not justifying his actions, I'm just saying many young people these days will support him. Personally I do not think it was appropriate behavior for a young man in his position. I also think  it was very foolish to allow any cameras/cell phones to be present if those were the type of antics they were going  to engage in.

[Kalafrana]

Can't help thinking that Harry could do far worse than consider the example of his cousin Peter Phillips. PP may be fortunate that he is six years older than Harry and had whatever was his youthful silly season before it became fashionable for so-called friends to splash compromising pictures over the internet. However, he is the Queen's eldest grandchild, son of the intermittently controversial Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, and brother of the much-publicised Zara, so any scandalous or salacious behaviour, however mild, would have delighted the tabloids. Plus he is a rugby player, a breed strongly linked with drunken antics (note his brother-in-law Mike Tindall). But apart from doing a publicity deal over his wedding with Hello! magazine (a mistake, I think), he really hasn't put a foot wrong. Every now and then he pops into the news, most recently watching his sister in the Olympics, and as the father of the Queen's first great-grandchildren, but it is all low-key and entirely wholesome. He was about 30 when he married, so it's unlikely that Autumn has been his only girlfriend, but, again, nothing the papers thought worth reporting. I don't suppose his life has been devoid of 'fun', but he has kept it to a sensible level.

Ann

[rosieposie]

I heard about it on the radio.  The media is pretty much a pain in the you know where.   There is many people out there that have had their photo taken in the nude.  I'm not saying I have or anyone else on here has but you know what I mean.   

The scandal reminded me of King Edward VII and his reputation with ladies of the night. 

[darius]

Remember that apparently George VI was inducted into sexual activities by his brother in a brothel in Paris.  Luckily for them there were no iPhones, Blackberries etc in the hands of those girls in the 1920´s!

[Emperor of the Dominions]

This story of course has run and run, indeed why wouldn't it? Prince Harry is currently third in line to the British throne. However, he's also human and a single 26 year old man who no doubt has sexual urges. I suspect he took this break as a reward and holiday for the sterling manner in which, in his own inimitable style, he represented The Queen during her Diamond Jubilee year. I think the blame lies firmly with those who are supposed to be 'looking after him' - not the Prince himself, who while required to set a 'standard' is also a human being and a sexual one.
In my opinion this incident is positively mild compared to the Charles and Camila telephone 'tampon' tapes which came to light. One wonders if these things are allowed to leak if whoever does look after them, believes they may be getting a little 'too big for their boots'? Before anyone remarks that I condone his behaviour - I don't. I am just mindful that he is human just like the rest of us and not a deity. Granted he holds a privileged position in life, but the Royals aren't devoid of human nature.

R.I.   

[Kalafrana]

'Remember that apparently George VI was inducted into sexual activities by his brother in a brothel in Paris.'

Not necessarily. In the biography of George VI's confidant (and tennis partner) Sir Louis Greig a letter is quoted from Edward VIII to one of his lady friends in 1918 (can't remember which one, but either Lady Furness or Mrs Dudley Ward). In it he says that he has heard from 'my RAF brother' to the effect that he has lost his virginity (the language was more veiled but the meaning was clear). The two were due to meet up fairly shortly and Edward says that he is simply 'longing' to hear all about it. The same book mentions a young lady with whom the young George VI was apparently very friendly (she was possibly an actress), and suggests that she was the one (they apparently stayed friends and she gave him a cigarette lighter which he always used).

Ann

[CountessKate]

'Remember that apparently George VI was inducted into sexual activities by his brother in a brothel in Paris.'

Not necessarily. In the biography of George VI's confidant (and tennis partner) Sir Louis Greig a letter is quoted from Edward VIII to one of his lady friends in 1918 (can't remember which one, but either Lady Furness or Mrs Dudley Ward). In it he says that he has heard from 'my RAF brother' to the effect that he has lost his virginity (the language was more veiled but the meaning was clear). The two were due to meet up fairly shortly and Edward says that he is simply 'longing' to hear all about it. The same book mentions a young lady with whom the young George VI was apparently very friendly (she was possibly an actress), and suggests that she was the one (they apparently stayed friends and she gave him a cigarette lighter which he always used).

Ann

Hugo Vickers tentatively identified the actress Rosalinde Fuller as "his [the Duke of York's] friend Miss Fuller......I just long to see her out of curiosity!!" as the Prince of Wales wrote to Freda Dudley Ward in 1918.  Here she is, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery:



The Duke of York also had a liaison shortly afterwards with Sheila, Lady Loughborough, who George V forced him to give up (interesting that he did not do the same with regard to the Prince of Wales and Freda Dudley Ward, who were very tight with the other couple at one stage, calling each other the '4 Dos'; the Prince of Wales gave them several opportunities to see each other alone, for example).  So while all this was kept entirely out of the public domain, even the more conventional Duke of York at least initially had a few high jinks of the aristocratic 1920s variety.