Harry: former Chief Rabbi ‘did not mince his words’ after Nazi uniform furore

Prince Harry has revealed in his tell-all memoir that he was “admonished” in person by the late former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks after he wore a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party in 2005, at the age of 20.

In his book ‘Spare’, Harry recalls how his father sent him to the home of Rabbi Sacks and how the experience made a lasting impression on the young royal, in part because the esteemed religious leader “did not mince his words”.

Harry says: “Pa sent me to a holy man. 51. Bearded, bespectacled, with a deeply lined face and dark, wise eyes, he was Chief Rabbi of Britain, that much I’d been told. But right away I could see he was much more.

“An eminent scholar, a religious philosopher, a prolific writer with more than two dozen books to his name, he’d spent many of his days staring out of windows and thinking about the root causes of sorrow, of evil, of hate. He didn’t mince words.

“He condemned my actions. He wasn’t unkind, but it had to be done. There was no way round it. He also placed my stupidity in historical context. He spoke about the six million, the annihilated. Jews, Poles, dissenters, intellectuals, homosexuals. Children, babies, old people, turned to ash and smoke. A few short decades ago.

“I’d arrived at his house feeling shame. I now felt something else, a bottomless self-loathing. But that wasn’t the rabbi’s aim. That certainly wasn’t how he wanted me to leave him. He urged me not to be devastated by my mistake, but instead to be motivated. He spoke to me with the quality one often encounters in truly wise people: forgiveness.

“He assured me that people do stupid things, say stupid things, but it doesn’t need to be their intrinsic nature. I was showing my true nature, he said, by seeking to atone. Seeking absolution. To the extent that he was able, and qualified, he absolved me. He gave me grace. He told me to lift my head, go forth, use this experience to make the world better.”

Harry is well known for his party years but reveals in ‘Spare’ that the idea of a Nazi uniform actually came from his brother William and his partner Kate – now the Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales.