Britain's Royal Pain

It has long been said that the job of the King of England is to produce an heir and a spare.

Prince Charles (search) has been destined to be king for so long that the job of producing the heir and the spare has been really all that his life has been about. Oh, I know he does charitable work, but really, his job was to get Prince William ready to be king and get — shall we say it? — Prince Harry (search) ready to be king in case something awful happened to William.

Evidently it is hard being the spare.

When you're the heir you know you have to be king one day, so you start behaving very early in life. But when you're the spare, nobody really cares about you unless something happens to the older brother. So I gather that a person gets isolated, lonely and evidently his judgment goes all wacky...

What else explains the Nazi (search) getup from the great grandson of a Queen of England who braved the Nazi blitz to buck up her subjects, her countrymen.

The Queen Mum, as she was fondly known, was famously seen in newsreels defying the Nazis. Now, her great grandson is famously pictured in our modern newsreels dressed up as a Nazi for a costume party.

Jewish groups are upset — which only makes sense. But you would think that the British people who are not Jewish would be as horrified, if not more so. Hitler wanted to invade Britain and take it over. He came darn close and killed a bunch of Brits in the process.

I know the Nazis have been the subjects of humor from time to time — Bob Crane, Henry Gibson and Mel Brooks come to mind. But, a member of the British royal family? German in their origins, by the way. Who is so doltish that he doesn't get it about the Nazis?

Oh right, I did say royal family.

They may be royal, but nobody ever said they were smart. Normally, the nasty truth is well hidden. But now, it's all out in the open.

By the way, Prince Harry says he's sorry. It was a poor choice of costume, he said.

Right. That's My Word.

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