The palace initiative, which will also affect Prince William, ends the policy of shielding the princes from public exposure, which was introduced after the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.

One source said: “Working hard helped remake the reputation of the Princess Royal and of the Earl of Wessex. It will also be the answer for Harry.”

Harry’s ill-judged decision a week ago to don a Nazi uniform for a fancy dress party occurred in one of the many rest periods during his current double “gap year”. By contrast the Prince of Wales was regularly undertaking royal engagements by the age of 20.

One palace source said William risked becoming embroiled in embarrassing incidents if he had no formal plan after graduation this summer. He is expected to begin a low-key programme of official engagements directly after completing his education at St Andrews University.

An adviser said: “The boys are now grown men and the arrangements put in place when they lost their mother no longer make sense.”

This weekend there were the first signs that courtiers at Clarence House — as well as the palace — believed both princes should at last be eased into undertaking formal royal engagements. Neither is expected to claim payments from the civil list.

However discreet, the involvement of Buckingham Palace in discussions indicates that those around the Queen have become concerned about the risks posed by Harry’s behaviour if he is not drawn more closely into the activities of the royal “firm”.

One source said: “The problem has been evident for some months. Each generation has to play its part.” Harry would fit royal duties around the demands of army life. He begins officer training at Sandhurst on May 8. His uncle, the Duke of York, undertook royal duties during periods of shore leave during his career as a naval officer.

Tomorrow, in a separate move, Harry will embark on a series of short-term work experience posts in Britain. There will be no official announcement, in contrast with his charity work overseas.

Although no decisions have been taken on Harry’s royal duties, one source said he needed to concentrate on routine and unglamorous events.

“Charity work in Lesotho comes across like a stunt, however well-intentioned it is. We should see him attending church with other royals. We should see him joining Charles on engagements like his visit to Carlisle last week to see the flood damage.”

As questions continued about Charles’s apparent failure to take Harry in hand, palace insiders admitted there were worries about the way in which he had been left to his own devices.

One source who knows Harry well said: “He is not entirely out of control but since he left school he has become wilful, belligerent and nobody is making him face the future.”

Another source said: “Charles has a clear idea of what his son should do but nobody is actually enforcing it.” Another said courtiers were nervous of challenging Harry’s behaviour. “Who wants to lose the keys to their grace-and- favour apartment?” The Prince of Wales, who three years ago undertook to spend more time with Harry after he admitted smoking cannabis, has not seen his son since Christmas when the royal family gathered at Sandringham. He has been at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate with Camilla Parker Bowles while Harry has been alone at Highgrove.

This weekend Lord Levy, the prime minister’s envoy to the Middle East, said Harry had “let the country down”.

A majority questioned by the Sunday Mirror also thought that Harry's elder brother, Prince William, should have stopped him making such a choice of uniform.

Harry, who is third in line to the throne, stirred up an international furore when photos of him wearing a swastika at a costume party appeared in the Sun newspaper.

Harry, younger son of Charles and the late Princess Diana, said in a statement he was sorry if he had caused any offence over his "poor choice" of costume, but politicians have called for him to make a public apology.

Both princes were reprimanded by Charles but royal sources said their father thinks Harry's written apology was sufficient.

Unlike the gaffe-prone Harry, William rarely puts a foot wrong and is popular in Britain.

But The Sunday Mirror poll, compiled by ICM, showed that 55 percent believed William should have stopped his brother. Harry's choice was condemned by 71 percent of those questioned.

Young aristos seem fixated with the glory days of British Empire — Prince William chose the theme Out of Africa for his 21st birthday — and small wonder. How today’s rich blade must regret not being born into an age when his debauches would be hushed up and indulged as “young master’s high spirits” rather than turned into “Cocaine Hell” headlines. When an old Etonian was assured a place at papa’s Oxford college instead of toiling hard to compete with comprehensive school swots. And when he would sail into a life of unquestioned command in some imperial sinecure rather than grub around as a runner for his mate’s dad’s TV production company.

Yet considering the king’s ransom spent on his education you would expect Harry’s costume to demonstrate some breadth of historical knowledge, some effort even. A crummy swastika armband and an army surplus shirt has not merely offended many across the world — and got republicans such as me gleefully dusting down our tumbrils — it also looks rather lazy. At least Prince William in his lion costume, managed to convey “I am king of the jungle” in a cuddly, strokeable way.

Harry should have forsaken Cotswold Costumes with its selection of hilarious SS uniforms — just the thing for celebrating Auschwitz liberation day — and headed for Angels, London’s finest costumiers. Although its theatrical wing supplied the uniforms for Schindler’s List, Angels won’t lend Nazi outfits as fancy dress, perhaps unsurprisingly since the firm was established in 1840 by a Jewish tailor. “We don’t do any dictators,” says the manager Emma Angel, his great-great-great-granddaughter. “We wouldn’t lend out Saddam, for example.” Or Mugabe either, which might disappoint Harry’s girlfriend Chelsy, whose father is said to be embroiled in President Bob’s 21st-century version of colonials and natives.

Ms Angel would have steered the Prince towards the third floor, a magical Mr Benn emporium of marabou and sequins, where he could have selected sparkling maharajah robes or a dashing safari suit, pith helmet and Sam Browne combo. Or on the fourth floor, where dozens of bunny and bear heads stare dolefully from their shelves, he and William could have found tabloid anonymity in what the Angels brochure calls the “chateaubriand of fancy dress”, a pantomime horse.

Fancy dress releases the alter ego trapped in workaday attire. Just as the mouse-frau is drawn towards a PVC Catwoman suit and the alpha rugby club male finds any excuse to don some fishnets, Harry is obviously longing to throw off the constraints of his son-of-Diana, aid-packing, Aids-victim hugging saintly garb and be just plain wicked. And who can truly blame him?

Yet if his intention was to shock, he ought to try something a little more contemporary. The suicide-bomber look could be achieved at home with his old Combined Cadet Force fatigues, a tea towel and some painted toilet roll tubes. Or he might copy a former colleague at my old firm’s Christmas party who dressed as Osama bin Laden. So convincing was his outfit that when his taxi got into a stand-off with another car on a narrow street, neither prepared to give way, Osama only had to get out and start ranting in cod Arabic for the other driver to beat a rapid retreat. And this was before 9/11. Harry, it would have so much more impact now.

But if the members of Harry’s fast set care for him maybe they should redirect their revels into safer territory. Ms Angel says that the Seventies are very popular but that is probably a bit too cheerfully democratic for the tyros of Club H. But the most enduringly popular theme of all time, the 18th century, is both glamorous and regal. Harry and Chelsy would look so fetching in powdered wigs and glorious Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette outfits. And while they got off their heads, millions would be happily knitting.

The Camberwell look

WHILE I am by no means a slavish follower of fashion, if I see a new look around town and in enough magazines, I like to give it a go. Particularly when it costs nothing. So the other day I took the lead of supermodels and stylists worldwide and tucked my jeans into my boots. I thought I looked rather dashing and rangey, with a hint of principal boy.

“What the hell do you look like?” asked my friend at the school gates. “Have you been riding a horse? Are you reading Jilly Cooper?” But, I protested, this is how we’re all wearing our boots this season. “Well, I’m not,” she declared. Sigh. Sometimes it is hard being cutting edge in Camberwell.

Body warmth

I BOUGHT a newspaper from a woman outside the Tube station on an afternoon turned abruptly Arctic by the departing sun. “I bet you’re freezing standing there,” I said.

“No, I’m all right, love,” she replied cheerfully. “I’m going through the menopause at the moment, and I’m boiling hot indoors. But out here, I’m the perfect temperature.” Which is, I suppose, something to look forward to.

The invitations "will be given due consideration, but there are no plans at the moment," said a spokeswoman at the office of Harry's father, Prince Charles. The spokeswoman stressed that Harry would not attend ceremonies on Jan. 27 commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex, although the Simon Wiesenthal Center had urged him to do so.

Charles, inspecting flood damage in the northwestern English city of Carlisle, was twice asked about Harry's costume but he didn't respond.

Harry swiftly apologized for "a poor choice of costume" after royal officials learned that The Sun newspaper was about to print a picture of the prince in a Nazi uniform on its front page Thursday.

The furor persisted on Friday, with more caustic remarks about Harry's level of intelligence and sensitivity. But some commentators, pleading that the prince was just a 20-year-old trying to live a normal life, contended that the fuss was overblown.

"I want someone to stand up for him and say he is a very good man, and I'm that person," Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Because I know what it is like to have a very bad press and to be continually criticized. It is very tiring and it is very unpleasant."

The duchess, who is divorced from Prince Andrew, was frequently criticized in the press for her dress sense and her battles with weight, and she was once photographed cavorting topless with an American lover.

However, supporters seemed to be in the the minority.

"All these excuses boil down to one: that Prince Harry is a stupid young man, who meant no harm. That is what I would like very much to believe," Tom Utley wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

"But if it is true, then we are not talking about an average level of stupidity. We are talking about stupidity on an absolutely monumental scale," Utley wrote.

"It is beyond belief that no sensible adult either cautioned Prince Harry about his choice of costume before he set off for this 'natives and colonials' party or advised him to remove the offending armband when he arrived," The Times said in an editorial. "He has been left for too long in the hands of a dubious group of self-indulgent young men who are apparently content with a life of pointless privilege."

While reactions from across the globe to Prince Harry's Nazi costume condemn his actions, Harry's aunt, the Duchess of York, came to his defense, saying he is "a very good man."

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today program, Duchess Sarah Ferguson said: "I want someone to stand up for him and say he is a very good man, and I'm that person. Because I know what it is like to have a very bad press and to be continually criticized. It is very tiring and it is very unpleasant.

"He is a young man, and he does a lot of good when he is following his mother's work with AIDS in Africa and he is a very good young man and I just think it is time that the press backed off and stopped criticizing him. They have been criticizing him now for months and months.

"Somebody needs to stand up and say 'Leave him alone, he is a very good man'. Both William and Harry are very good men. I think that their mother was very proud of them.

"I am speaking in support of a great young man who needs more support and less criticism. He has apologized and people have accepted his apology, and let's move on."

Prince William was with his brother at the party, which was held by Richard Meade, the triple Olympic gold medallist, who is a close friend of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles.

The theme of the party at Mr Meade’s equestrian centre in Wiltshire on Saturday night was Colonials and Natives. It was attended by more than 400 people. Mr Meade is a former boyfriend of the Princess Royal and they remain close friends.

Clarence House moved swiftly last night to try to defuse the row after photographs emerged of Prince Harry, 20, sporting the apparently home-made red swastika on the left arm of a military-style shirt.

The Prince of Wales was appalled by his son’s lack of judgment, which will plunge the Royal Family into another embarrassing row. Harry apologised immediately. Clarence House is braced for protests from leaders of the Jewish community. A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “We are pleased that Prince Harry has apologised. Such an incident is in bad taste, particularly in the run-up to Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27), for which the Queen will be leading the commemorations in the United Kingdom.”

Terry Burton, a spokesman for veterans of the Second World War, said the prince’s costume was an insult to soldiers who had faced German troops in battle and were still dealing with painful memories. “Maybe people think it’s funny to use inappropriate fancy dress like this, but I just find it disgusting,” he said.

A Clarence House source said that Harry had apologised to his father for his inappropriate choice of costume at the fancy dress party. “He knows it was a mistake and he has said sorry,” said the source.

The incident is the latest in a damaging series generated by Harry, which often involve excessive drinking. But the decision to be seen openly wearing a swastika is regarded by courtiers as the most serious offence to date. “It was bloody stupid,” one senior source said last night.

Prince Harry, who has been given a place at Sandhurst Military College, has had his entrance delayed until the summer because of a leg injury he sustained in a riding accident. Last night there were calls for the prince to be prevented from becoming a British Army Officer. Doug Henderson, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North and a former armed forces minister, said: “After the revelations this evening I don’t think this young man is suitable for Sandhurst.

“If it was anyone else, the application wouldn’t be considered. It should be withdrawn immediately,” he said.

The Colonials and Natives theme of the party caused further embarrassment to Clarence House last night. It contained uncomfortable echoes of the row involving Princess Michael of Kent, after she caused uproar in an upmarket New York restaurant last April. Having taken exception to the noise levels generated by a group of black diners she was accused of telling them, after an altercation to “go back to the colonies”. She denied the allegation and said that she had been misrepresented.

The Duke of Edinburgh, one of the most gaffe-prone members of the Royal Family, caused offence in 1997 when he addressed Helmut Kohl, then the German Chancellor, by Hitler’s Nazi title, Reichskanzler.

The Royal Family has been highly sensitive about any links to Nazi Germany after the Duke of Windsor, who was regarded by some as a sympathiser, visited Germany with Mrs Simpson as the personal guest of Hitler in 1937.

The swastika incident is the latest in a series of embarrassments involving Prince Harry. In October Prince Harry was accused of cheating during his History of Art exam at Eton by a former teacher, Sarah Forsyth, who is claiming unfair dismissal. The examination board, Edexcel, cleared Prince Harry.

In November he became involved in a scuffle with a paparazzi photographer outside a London nightclub.

• Harry's girl must wait
  Laura Collins
  
  
  PRINCE Charles is said to have banned Prince Harry's girlfriend from spending New Year's Eve at the family home, Highgrove.
  
  Harry had asked his father whether Chelsy Davy could stay over and be officially introduced to Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

  But, according to royal sources, Charles refused, saying he did not want to upset the domestic arrangements he had already made.

  A source told the Mail on Sunday: "The worry is that with Chelsy around Harry will end up cavorting around and doing stupid things.

  "Obviously that wouldn't look good when the reason he has postponed going to Sandhurst (military academy) is because he has injured his knee."

  But Prince Charles has agreed Chelsy, 19, can stay at his Gloucestershire home in a few weeks time -- although he has banned the pair from sharing a room.

  A royal insider said 20-year-old Harry and Chelsy, a student at Cape Town University, had a very relaxed time when he visited her in South Africa last year.

  The pair also shared a beach hut when they enjoyed a 10-day holiday on exotic Bazaruto Island, off Mozambique, in December.

  But the insider added: "Things will be a bit different at Highgrove. The boys do run rings around Charles and he just says, 'Oh no, here we go again', but he's adamant on this point.

  "Harry's been told they will have to sleep in separate rooms and can't even have adjoining suites, which may become a bone of contention."

  Harry and Chelsy secretly dated for at least eight months before their relationship became public five weeks ago. The couple have seemed inseparable and there has been speculation they may become engaged.

  The Mail on Sunday reported the couple spent Christmas apart and were now anxious to see each other again as soon as possible.

  "Harry invited Chelsy to join him on the skiing holiday during their break on Bazaruto Island," a source said.

  The young couple have already discussed the possibility of Harry visiting Zimbabwe, where her millionaire father, Charles Davy, runs a safari business.

  Mr Davy has come under fire for his close relationship with the regime of Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe.

  It is a politically dangerous situation and while Charles is understood to be well disposed to Harry's relationship with Chelsy, the harsh political realities of the situation could prevent him from giving the couple his overt blessing.