Diana Apologizes for Taking Sons to See ‘Devil’s’

Princess Diana has issued a public apology after being castigated in the British press for taking her two sons, Princes William and Harry, to see a film about the Irish Republican Army.

Her controversial trip was to see Columbia’s “The Devil’s Own,” with Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford, at the Kensington Odeon in west London. The film has been attacked by some British critics as pro-Irish Republican propaganda, designed to appeal to Irish American audiences. In her statement of apology this week, she said she had booked tickets to the film and had known nothing of its subject matter.

Diana had also been roundly criticized for taking Prince Harry, who is 12, to the film, for which audience members must be 15 to see in England.

Kensington Odeon employees reported that when told Prince Harry was too young to be admitted, the princess pleaded with an usher to admit him, saying she could not leave him behind. The staff finally made an exception and allowed the young prince to be admitted.

In her statement, the princess apologized for “any distress which may have been caused” by her trip. The incident has made front-page news in London’s tabloid papers, some of which noted that the princes’ great-uncle Earl Mountbatten was killed by an IRA bomb.