Inappropriate Outfits Worn By Prince Harry
Prince Harry is mostly thought of as well-dressed, especially when he steps out with his very fashionable and designer-loving wife Meghan Markle (via Vogue). But every royal has missteps, with some fashion moments being so inappropriate, they make the world collectively cringe.
Indeed, even the future king of England, Prince William, the Prince of Wales, has suffered a fashion faux pas from time to time, as has his seemingly-perfect other half, Kate Middleton. From Princess Beatrice to queen consort Camilla, to even Princess Diana, the former Princess of Wales, no one is exempt from inappropriate outfit choices when the world is watching.
As for the Duke of Sussex, his less-than-stellar ensembles have included outfits more appropriate for a pauper than a prince and one look that was so offensive, no apology can erase the hurt it caused many people around the globe.
Prince Harry's morning suit stood out at the Queen's funeral
Prince Harry was one of just two royals not wearing a military uniform to Queen Elizabeth's funeral on September 19, 2022. The Duke of Sussex's "choice" to don a morning suit for the somber event watched by 11.4 million people was explained by his spokesperson, Ashley Hansen, who said in a statement, "Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex will wear a morning suit throughout events honoring his grandmother" (via USA Today).
The duke, along with his uncle, the disgraced Prince Andrew, did not sport military attire to the funeral. As fans will recall, when Harry decided to abandon his role as a working member of the royal family, he lost his military titles (via Page Six).
The prince was permitted to wear a uniform to stand vigil by the Queen's coffin alongside the long-serving monarch's seven other grandchildren, but unfortunately, Harry definitely stood out in morning dress on the big day. That's because his brother the Prince of Wales was wearing military garb, as were all other working members of the royal family (via People).
Twitter was abuzz about the seemingly-inappropriate attire Prince Harry wore to honor his grandmother, mostly commenting about how regal he looked when he was allowed to dress in uniform. Incidentally, Harry did sport his military medals to the funeral (via GQ).
Harry hasn't always dressed like a prince, but more like a pauper
Meanwhile, the hubbub over Prince Harry's morning attire for his grandmother's funeral was not the only time that what the Duke of Sussex wore inspired criticism. In a 2013 Netflix documentary called "The Royals," the prince was hailed as dressing rather sloppily and failing to select anything tailored despite his access to the top designers on the planet (via Express).
A prime example of a prince dressing more like a pauper was when he sported a pair of muddy dress shoes with a hole in the sole to a wedding (via Cafemom). To be fair, his big brother, the new Prince of Wales, also encountered the same shoe snafu during a TV appearance in 2019, showing the bottom of his shoe with a big old hole in it.
Royals can't win though; Meghan Markle has been criticized for wearing expensive clothes that most people can only dream of owning. And yet, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, has gotten flack for rewearing some of her clothes, which critics found inappropriate.
Prince Harry was once a partier and wore nothing at all
In his younger days, before meeting Meghan Markle, Prince Harry was a well-known party boy. In 2012, a vacation in Las Vegas didn't stay there, with photos of a clothesless prince becoming tabloid fodder (via Daily Mail). The pictures, revealing his highly-inappropriate for public consumption birthday suit, were taken after the future Duke of Sussex allegedly enjoyed games of strip pool. Other images from the scandalous trip include shocking scenes of the prince, who was at the time third in line for the throne, seemingly acting very intoxicated and surrounded by scantily-clad fellow partiers.
The birthday suit fiasco wouldn't be the only time that Harry's partying was caught on camera. The year prior, the drunk prince jumped or possibly fell into a pool while living it up in Croatia (via Mirror). Undeterred, he got out, soaked, and kept on dancing and enjoying the night. A wet-to-the-bone royal was not the best look, according to some, with at least one person also calling his dancing "embarrassing" (via NY Daily News).
Harry dressed in a very inappropriate uniform in 2005
Another outfit the Duke of Sussex wore many years ago was so inappropriate, let's just say that after much time has passed, the world still has not forgotten about the very ill-advised outfit.
The year was 2005 and the younger of Princess Diana's sons was just 20 years old (via The Mercury News). Prince Harry may never live down having been photographed wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party. As biographer Robert Lacey chronicled in his book "Battle of Brothers," the images understandably created a huge amount of public backlash worldwide (via The U.S. Sun).
In an effort to appease the many people who were deeply offended, the duke offered a mea culpa, saying in a statement, "I am very sorry if I caused any offense or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize" (via The Irish Times). But many people weren't satisfied with the somewhat-tepid apology, with Lacey noting that some felt anger over how Prince William had been in on the idea for his younger brother to dress like a Nazi for the party.
According to Lacey, although Harry took the fall for the Nazi costume, the now-Prince of Wales didn't exactly dissuade him from running with the outfit.