Prince Harry has been urged to visit Auschwitz by one of the largest international Jewish human rights organisation amid intense condemnation of his decision to attend a fancy dress party wearing a red Nazi swastika.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre called on Prince Harry to join the British delegation to the Nazi death camp on the 60th anniversary of its liberation.

Prince Harry, 20, wore the desert uniform of Rommel's German Afrika Korps to the party in Wiltshire last Saturday. A photograph shows him wearing a swastika armband and a badge of the German Wehrmacht on his collar.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre said: "This was a shameful act displaying insensitivity for the victims, not just for those soldiers of his own country who gave their lives to defeat Nazism, but to the victims of the Holocaust who were the principal victims of the Nazis.

"We strongly urge Prince Harry to accompany the British delegation on January 27 to the Auschwitz death camp to commemorate 60 years since liberation. There he will see the results of the hated symbol he so foolishly and brazenly chose to wear."

Prince Harry was with his brother William 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. Mr Meade is a former boyfriend of the Princess Royal and they remain close friends.

The Prince of Wales was appalled by his son's lack of judgment, which has plunged the Royal Family into another embarrassing row. In a statement issued by Clarence House, Prince Harry said: "I am very sorry if I caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise."

Prime Minister Tony Blair attempted to calm the furore, saying: “Prince Harry has made it clear he is very sorry about it and I think the rest of it is best to leave to Buckingham Palace.”

However Silvan Shalom, the Israeli Foreign Minister, was less sympathetic. He said: “Anybody who tries to pass it off as bad taste must be made aware that this can encourage others to think that perhaps that period was not as bad as we teach the young generation in the free world.”

There were calls for the Prince to make a personal, broadcast apology. Dicky Arbiter, a former royal press spokesman, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In this circumstance, with Holocaust Memorial Day coming up very shortly, a written apology is not enough.

"If he now wants to be considered an adult, he has got to behave like an adult, and he has got to apologise in person, through radio and television." He said of the Prince of Wales: "Once again he has been let down by his wayward son. Every time there is some good, there is lots of bad. And it can't go on.

"If he is old enough and seems fit enough to boogie at a party, then he must be fit enough to go into the Army and that is where he needs to go for some good, hard-knocking discipline."

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