Royal role models

Citizenship 11-14/KS3/Levels E&F
Central government

Overview

Prince Harry has apologised for dressing up as a Nazi for a friend's birthday party at the weekend.

This lesson looks at some of the issues surrounding the Royal Family being role models.

Learning aims

Learn about the function of the British monarchy

Discuss how the Royal Family should be expected to behave

Icebreaker

Read out this story to the class.

HARRY APOLOGISES FOR NAZI BLUNDER Click here for the story

Ask the class:

What did Harry apologise for? Wearing a swastika armband and other items associated with Adolf Hitler.

What is the swastika associated with? Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in the 1930s and 1940s. The Nazis killed millions of Jewish people in the Second World War.

Click here for our guide to the Holocaust

Why might Harry's costume upset his grandmother, the Queen? She is taking part in a service to remember those who died in the Second World War on 27 January.

What else has Harry done to get in trouble? He admitted underage drinking, and smoking cannabis as a teenager.

What good things has Harry done? Taken rugby coaching at schools and travelled to Africa to make a documentary about children with Aids.

Some people say Harry's latest blunder shows he isn't fit to become an Army officer. What do you think?

Main activity

The Queen has no direct say in law making, but the Monarch is the Head of State and gives the Royal Assent to all new legislation.

As Prince Harry is third in line to the throne (after Prince Charles and Prince William), he is an important member of the Royal Family.

Ask students:

Do you think Prince Harry should be setting an example for other children to follow?

Should the Royal Family have strict rules that they should live by?

Students could devise their own rules for the Royal Family. For example:

Making sure that they're home by 10 o'clock

Always smiling

Do lots of things for charity

Travel by public transport

Extension activity

Imagine a member of the Royal Family has broken one of your rules. What punishment, if any, should they receive? Students write down their thoughts.

They could write their thoughts in the style of a news report, like the one read out in class. They might want to imagine that a new post, that of "Royal Conduct Judge" has been created. If such a post existed, what would they say?

Plenary

Recap on the main teaching points and allow students to present the views they most and least agree with and their codes of conduct.

Turn this into an assembly

Ask volunteers to present arguments for and against a code of conduct for the Royal Family.

Ask for comments in response to the introductory questions.

Teachers' Background

PRINCE HARRY Click here for our Prince Harry quiz Click here for our guide to Prince Harry

Harry is third in line to the throne after his dad, Prince Charles, and his brother Prince William.

Below is a list of members of the Royal Family and the order in which they would become King or Queen if our current Queen, Elizabeth II, died or stepped down. It is called the line of royal succession.

1. Prince Charles (1948)
2. Prince William (1982)
3. Prince Harry (1984)
4. Prince Andrew (1960)
5. Princess Beatrice (1988)
6. Princess Eugenie (1990)
7. Prince Edward (1964)
8. Lady Louise Windsor (2003)
9. Princess Anne (1950)
10. Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne (1977)

Prince Harry was actually christened Henry Charles Albert David Windsor.

He was born on 15 September, 1984.

He lives at Highgrove in Doughton, Gloucestershire.

His brother William is two years older than him.

His dad is Prince Charles.

His mum, Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Prince Charles and Diana married in 1981 and divorced in 1996.

Harry's grandmother is the Queen, Elizabeth II.

Harry's good works

Following in the footsteps of his mum, Princess Diana, Harry has visited hospital patients, Aids victims, homeless people, orphans, young offenders and worked on schemes to improve people's health in poorer countries.

On his 18th birthday, he asked for the money made from the sale of his birthday photos to go to charity.

The charity called Merlin is not well-known, but they help save millions of people affected by wars and disease in countries like Africa and Afghanistan.

Other Royal blunders

Tom Parker-Bowles, son of Prince Charles's friend Camilla, and Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, have both admitted using cocaine - as did Queen Victoria, though her usage was purely for medicinal purposes.

Prince Charles once ordered a cherry brandy during an illicit visit to a pub after temporarily escaping from his public school, Gordonstoun, in the Scottish highlands, at the age of 14.

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