Here’s the full Prince Harry Nazi costume controversy The Crown just covered in series six

The Crown season six has dropped on Netflix, and sees the mammoth show chronicling some of the most recent history of the Royals – including some of the more fresh controversies and scandals they’ve been wrapped up in. One of the biggest that the show takes on is the leaked photos of Prince Harry wearing a swastika to a fancy dress party in 2005 – with the pictures surfacing in 2008 and causing huge controversy for the family at the time. Here’s what actually happened with Prince Harry and his Nazi costume, and how The Crown shows it on Netflix.

The original story

Prince Harry called this one of the "biggest mistakes" of his life. https://t.co/PxCzQMlkhz

— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) December 15, 2023

The story was first broken by The Sun newspaper. Prince Harry did wear the costume to a party in 2005 which was “Native and Colonial themed” – hell on earth. Prince William also attended. Harry wore a khaki shirt and trousers with the swastika on an arm band. He was 20 at the time.

When the pictures surfaced, there was of course huge backlash and offence caused all around the world. Harry issued a statement through Clarence House apologising, saying “I am very sorry if I caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise.”

Lots of politicians condemned it, and also accepted the apology. The Board of Deputies of British Jews were also willing to accept the apology. However, the found of one of the biggest Jewish human rights groups internationally, Rabbi Marvin Hier, said: “‘This was a shameful act displaying insensitivity for the victims, not just for the soldiers of his own country who gave their lives to defeat Nazism, but to the victims of the Holocaust who were the principal victims of the Nazis.”

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Since the scandal, Prince Harry has suggested on numerous occasions that Prince William encouraged him to wear the Nazi costumes. He also said Prince William and Kate Middleton “howled with laughter” when he showed it to them. In his book, Spare, he writes “I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. They both howled. Worse than Willy’s leotard outfit! Way more ridiculous! Which, again, was the point.”

The scandal in The Crown

In episode 10 of The Crown series six – Sleep, Dearie Sleep – we see the Prince Harry Nazi costume scandal erupt in full. The Crown shows Harry, Will and Kate at Cotswolds Costumes picking what they’re going to wear for the “Native and Colonial” party – with Harry pulling out the Nazi costume and saying “Germany had an empire, didn’t they? What about this?”

Kate says “I don’t know. Maybe cover the swastika?”, with Will responding “Oh come on, wearing the outfit doesn’t make him a Nazi.”

They all go to the party, and the pics hit the press and the scandal erupts. There’s also a scene earlier in the episode where William debates the controversial theme of the party, and Harry calls him a cliche and says “Mate, you’re such an undergraduate now. You’d have never said that before you went to uni.

The Crown season six is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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