Let's not get carried away, here. He's just a kid and for some reason nobody was looking at what he was doing.

Prince William was with him when he picked out the costume, and advised him that it was probably a mistake, but Prince William did not go out of the way to physically prevent his getting the costume, nor did Prince William think to report what Prince Harry would be wearing to St James officials.

I think you guys should relax just a little. It was a dumb thing to do, but let's not blow it out of proportion. He just made a mistake.

You folks are probably just not old enough to realise that this is the "Young Battenburg Disease" or "Young Windsor Disease."

It happens all the time with younger members of the royal families whose activities are not watched carefully.

Princess Margaret used to get into all kinds of trouble but you guys just aren't old enough to remember that. The activities of junior royals have always challenged the senior royals.

Remember, too, that in these days of European charters of liberties and European constitutions, the government are conscious of the likelihood that younger royals actually might have "civil rights" that are currently not allowed in British law, and it could actually be unlawful to interfere but so much with a person's activities.

We're not sure about this and the realms of the Commonwealth are still struggling with the notion that senior members of the royal family might actually have civil rights that are currently denied them in the law. (You probably don't know this, but people like the Queen and the Prince of Wales cannot even leave the United Kingdom without the permission of Parliament. And if they're visiting a realm like Canada or the Bahamas then they cannot leave that country without that Parliament's permission.)

Guys, people just do dumb things all the time.

Not too long ago, in a swanky DC restaurant, Princess Marina had a bit of a row with a table full of Africans and appears to have suggested that they "go back to the colonies."

This same Princess Marina later tossed someone's offensive Nextel two-way phone out of a second story window in a DuPont Circle residence.

These people are only human and some of them spend their entire lives trying to get out of the public eye, or if they can't, spend their entire lives trying to avoid controversy and not be seen doing anything wrong.

In the end, however, they are only human.