Britons shrug off Prince Harry's naked photos

Britain's Prince Harry gives a thumbs up during the award ceremony after playing a charity polo match in Campinas, Brazil, Sunday March 11, 2012. / (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

(CBS/AP) LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry has been caught on camera doing something embarrassing - again.

Celebrity gossip website TMZ on Tuesday posted photos of the 27-year-old royal cavorting nude with an unidentified woman in a VIP suite in Las Vegas. It's hardly the first time the prince - who allegedly disrobed as part of a game of strip pool - has been filmed in a compromising situation. The third-in-line to the throne was famously photographed wearing a Nazi uniform for a costume party, and in another photo gaffe he was seen cupping the breast of a female TV presenter. Some would argue footage in which he was heard to utter a racial slur while teasing a fellow army cadet from Pakistan was more serious.

Prince Harry naked: Is the "party prince" back?

If the reaction of Britons to Harry's Las Vegas adventure was anything to go by, the nude photos will do little to tarnish his generally positive, party-prince image. The Associated Press asked an assortment of royal watchers and British subjects about what they thought about the prince's naked romp.

Did Harry do anything wrong?

Jim Conlon, a 60-year-old construction worker: "The answer to that is categorically NO." Conlon, who was unloading bags of material from a car, seemed genuinely offended by the very question. "I'd be proud of him if he were my son," he said.

Conlon's opinion was typical of a country where thousands of streets and pubs are named for the royal family. Polls published earlier this year showed support for the monarchy at an all-time high, perhaps buoyed by the celebrations surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60 years on the throne.

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Royal scandals

Interviews with Londoners up and down the capital's Prince of Wales Road yielded few critics of Harry's antics.

Craig Martin, 38, another construction worker: "He's the prince. He can have any bird he wants!"

Down the road, caregiver Shirley Ashard laughed at the news of Harry's naked adventure, dismissing questions about the propriety of running around a plush hotel room in the buff with a boys-will-be-boys shrug.

"I've got kids. They do things like that," the 59-year-old said. "He's a lad, for God's sake."

Will Harry's romp harm the image of the prince, or the royal family?

Hanad Darwish, a 19-year-old student from Birmingham, worried about what Harry's hijinks said about his judgment.

"It is a little immature and gives the royals a bad image," he said.

But Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, said it wasn't likely that Harry's reputation would suffer. Seward said his party-boy image was part of his approachable, normal persona.

"Of course it's stupid, but it doesn't make people dislike him - quite the opposite," she said.

"I honestly think it makes him more endearing as a character," she said. "This is why people want to see Harry. People get more hysterical about Harry because he does these little - well, maybe it's a big faux pas."

Watch: Do we love Prince Harry for his flubs? Majesty magazine editor explains

She did think, though, it still had negative consequences. "It reflects badly on Harry. It reflects badly on his regiment, and it reflects badly on the Queen," she said. "Whatever he did, I'm sure he's regretting it now."

Doesn't the royal family have a history of bad-boy behavior?

Yes, said Anne Sebba, biographer of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whose affair with King Edward VIII - Harry's great-great-uncle - led to his abdication in 1936.

That king's grandfather, Edward VII - who reigned from 1901 to 1910 - had many affairs, parking his carriage outside the houses of his mistresses while he visited.

"The staff would be very discreet," said Sebba. "People knew; they just didn't talk about it."

Edward VIII and Simpson were well known in upper-crust circles for their hedonistic parties - and some visitors wrote their shocked reactions in diaries.

"It didn't reach the papers," Sebba said. "It is just in the private diaries. Nobody was taking photographs. Nobody was posting it on the Internet.

"The old system depended on incredible discretion, loyalty and deference - and all that has gone. The royal family has had to make themselves so open and available and this is the downside of the coin."

Both of Prince Harry's parents also had affairs - his mother, the late Princess Diana acknowledged she strayed, while his father Prince Charles's reputation initially took a hit when the details of his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his second wife, went public.

Prince Harry's office confirmed Wednesday that the photos were of the prince, but declined to make any further comment.

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Prince Harry's "bad boy" behavior

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[noHeir1]

Prince Harry is one ugly Ginger man lol. I don't touch the ****** hes touched. The type of girls he's with leap out of his arms when they see guys like me, total strangers too btw, pass by and noticing them whoring themselves. He is only with girls cause of his royal ****** status. He has no looks or character for the matter, whatsoever. He is also really outta shape, the thin bastard is so tiny. Apparently Not enough exercise in military either. He already told his grandma that he only wants to party his ugly butt in life. I say just let the red haired turd be. They pay this duck $60,000/ year as captain in British Forces lol. He doesn't even deserve that.

[wonderingB]

Prince Harry isn't a Celeb in the normal sense, he didn't choose to be a prince... He IS a servicing officer and his ride is an Apache, to say he shame his regiment is total BS... they'll be buying the guy drinks!
I really don't think the problem here is the fact that while Harry is a prince, he's young, he's a soldier blowing off some steam and we have NO context for the photos themselves. Is this a prank? is this just a crazy party? We don't know...

But he's not courting fame and fortune like celebrities do... He's not trying to be something he isn't... And yeah, what is so wrong about the pics..

He is no embarrassment to me, his regiment or the Queen - he is a credit...
Rock on Harry, if you're gonna kick some fun - go hard or go home!!

[EmpireGeorge______--]

I completely agree, the embarassment is actually Charles and his global dope-ism.

[Molly-Pchr]

I know lots of young men who didn't choose to become princes, and they're not princes, but they do care how they reflect on their families, and they have self-respect and know when they're too old for this spring break mentality year round.

[NinthSt78]

The background in some of the photos showing his room tell us that a more private area was entered and he appears to have been chased about.

[ugacrew]

Harry is both cute and adorable. Everybody was young once, and there is private life and public life. What was done in secret is private but what was done in private and revealed to the public by a "trusting" friend is shameful but typical. The scriptures teach that we should "trust" our fate to no man.

[andie52]

I'm sure that the Queen is livid but protection officers are also in trouble because they could have controlled this

[46tallison]

Leave the guy alone... He didn't do anything wrong.

[NinthSt78]

A more thoughtful photographer might have offered a towel first or a few more beauties in the background.

[nohater]

brits criticize Americans, even romney for his comment while there regarding the brit olympics. yet brits approve of all their precious royalty does that crosses the line like this harry nudity. brits should realize, acknowledge, that they are just as decadent, if not more, as Americans. brit royalty should be abolished. royalty is just silly though it was probably necessary in ancient, ancient times.

[KPeters_from_UK]

The British were jusifiably upset with Romney who critized their hard work at organizing a billion pound event which by the way went off with very few snafus. That even turned out to be a huge success. Unfortunately NBC ruined most of it. On the other sided of the pond BBC had 22 cable channels for each different venue with no commercials...none. Remember, London is vast, wide and is based on Medieval and Regency streets. London is not like some podunk city out in no where land such as Salt Lake.

Are they precious about their Royals? Obviously you haven't a clue. You were n't there for Diana's death were you? Were you there when Windsor Castle was burning? How about when Prince Philips makes all his gaffes? And when Harry was photographed with the Nazi uniform all hell broke loose. So no, the Brits are not previous about the Royal even though most support the Queen. Huge difference.

More decadent ...really. How? The Americans have the bigger (but made of straw) McHouses while the British are made of bricks but a hell lot smaller. British people tend to care for the their environment a lot more than Americans from the use of light bulbs to recycling (every council must recycle 30% of their trash). Many cities like London has some form of congestion charge. In London you can't drive your car into the center without paying 10 pounds per day.

Should the monarchy will abolished? Yes, I think they should. I don't like the idea that there are a certain class of individuals who are deemed special and separate due to birth.

[eaglej29]

We don't critise the US - we have stood by your country thick and thin - in war time and in hardship. We are not precious about our royal family, but we are proud of them. There is nothing illigal or shameful about being naked with a beautiful women. You are right, our country's customs, culture and traditions are ancient. But they are not silly. It is a free country, however, and you are entitled to your opinion. But do yourself a favour, get a passport and visit our country before you judge it.

[88Ronin]

If The Invisible-Daddy-In-The-Sky had intended for humans to run about without clothes, you would have been born naked.

Oh, wait! Never mind.

[88Ronin]

Isn't it perverse we have allowed religionists to make something obscene, dirty, evil, wicked and SINFUL of the human body that was supposedly created in the image of The-Invisible-Daddy-In-The-Sky?

Priests rule through the invention of sin.

Religion poisons everything, even beauty and love.

[nohater]

not a bible scholar but didn't clothing become mandatory after supposedly adam/eve ate the apple in the garden of eden defying orders not to eat of the apple? from that point on, clothing became required not optional. even when born naked wasn't jc wrapped in swaddling clothes as are modern newborns?

[MIO42]

Too much money,too much free time,too bored,no purpose = a wasted life

[KPeters_from_UK]

Harry has served in Afghanistan on many occasions while William serves for the coast guard. These two have jobs. When was the last time you went out to Afghanistan and fought?

Now if we were to speak about Prince Andrew...okay that guy is a waste.

[didierol]

Good point! And the next thing we know we'll be suicide and straight to hell. This guy has no purpose in his life. He doesn't even know what to do for tomorrow! This is a wasted life for hell!