In the latest revelation from a new tell-all book by Prince Harry, the royal recounts how he was sent by his father to see Rabbi Sacks after newspapers ran photos of him wearing a nazi uniform at a fancy dress party.
Prince Harry, writing in his new book Spare, has revealed that he was given a dressing down by Sacks saying that the then Chief Rabbi “didn’t mince his words” and that he left the encounter with “a bottomless self-loathing."
He wrote: "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."
Last week, in another disclosure from Spare, Harry claimed that Kate and William suggested he wear the Nazi uniform, writing: ": “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.”
