Germans have reacted with outrage and incredulity at the revelations about Prince Harry's Nazi fancy dress costume.

The story has been on the front pages of the German tabloids and prominent in all the other newpapers. Editorial comments have universally condemned the Prince's behaviour.

Bild, the biggest selling paper in Germany with a circulation of around four million, ran the story today with the front page headline: "Nazi Harry, What Would Diana Have Said?"

Inside, an editorial comment, written in the style of a letter to the Prince, said: "You are 20 but mentally your are no older than 12. Even the most stupid English person knows what happened with the sign of the Swastika."

Claudia Lord, London Correspondent for Bild and Bild am Sonntag, said: "It has been a very big story in Germany and will continue to be so over the coming days. The general feeling is disgust. It is a criminal offence to wear the swastika in public in Germany. It can get you a prison sentence of up to three years.

"We were taught never to make jokes about the Nazis. There's no such thing in Germany as a funny Hitler. If you make a joke about him you are looked at as if you were mad. It is a part of history that just isn't funny.

"It is known that the English have a different approach to that era. We know about Fawlty Towers and we just think: 'That's just British humour'.

"But Prince Harry is a different ball-game as he represents the Royal Family. People cannot understand why there was no-one around to advise him against it."

The reaction in Germany has mirrored that in other countries. The French regional newspaper Dernieres nouvelles d'Alsace said: "This prank has landed a new blow to the reputation of the Windsors and is an opportunity for newspapers to recall the embarrassing ties of certain members of this family, of German origin, with the Nazi regime."

In Russia, Noviye Izvestiya also claimed that the Prince's gaffe "has dealt a harsh blow to the royal family's reputation".

Reaction in the Israeli press has so far been muted, but a commentary in Yediot Aharonot was concerned about what Prince Harry's antics showed about underlying attitudes in British society.

It said: "Prince Harry's foolish deed, no matter how repulsive, abhorrent and infuriating, is not the root of the problem. The root of the problem, or indeed the whole problem, is the fact that in a public opinion poll more than half the respondents believed no fuss should be made of the story."

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