A princely mistake

If you caught Sky News yesterday, you couldn't miss the headlines about a princely gaffe three years ago when Prince Harry called a member of his army platoon a "Paki",

It wasn't clever for two reasons. First, it was seen as an insult to people from Pakistan; second, because it was videoed somebody, somewhere, at some time, was going to pick it up. That day was yesterday.

Once caught out, the prince apologised. He said he used the expression about a pal without malice. Anybody who knows a jot about lads together knows they can talk a different language. That might not be clever either, but they do it.

I've never seen why an abbreviation of a national name is offensive, nor it seems did Harry's Sandhurst colleague. Here in South Africa, they watched the news coverage with disbelief as royal correspondents gathered in London, good old Dickie Arbiter, former press man, was pulled out of retirement and politicians galore flocked to comment.

Here in South Africa, the Prince is not kow-towed to, but he is well respected for the work he does and the profile he raises on a continent which suffers more than any other on earth. They talk of the special bond he has with children, the schools he helps build and the good guy they think he is. Girlfriend Chelsey's family lives in Africa as well.

Like others, I've had a go at him for his silly swastika prank, for falling out of nightclubs and so on. But this latest accusation was three years ago, and since then Harry has been honed by tough army life, tried to do his duty despite family and top military brass, and, maybe, tried too hard to be one of the boys.

If he told fellow soldiers to call him Your Royal Highness, there would be a huge hue and cry. As it happens, he gets called "Ginger", to which he doesn't object, though some would.

Whatever their station, nobody should go around insulting others but we need to be careful not to see comments which may be clumsy or crass as sinister.

And the message from hereabouts – where they know a bit about personal insults – is that he'll have got the message that he blundered.

Now lay off Harry.