Statue of a Dead Prince Harry Shocks Britain

LONDON, Oct. 5, 2007 — -- "Tasteless."

That's what one London tabloid called a new piece of art. The statue of a dead Prince Harry is set to go on display at the Trafalgar Hotel in London, Oct. 11.

"It's a bit sick," said Phyl Foley of London. "I am not a big royalist, but for someone who is still alive — I would not endorse it, particularly someone who is still young."

But U.S. artist Daniel Edwards said he was just honoring soldiers killed in Iraq.

The sculpture shows the 23-year-old prince laid out, head resting on a Bible and clutching a lock of his mother's hair, the late Princess Diana.

"Daniel is a very serious artist," said David Kesting, Edward's gallerist in New York. "We are here to engage our society in a discussion about Iraq," said Kesting. "There are a lot of people who died in Iraq, on the states' side, from Britain, and Iraqis."

"We have to raise awareness about what is actually happening there, and the shocking value of these deaths."

Harry publicly expressed interest in serving in Iraq after he graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. The Ministry of Defense, however, decided that Harry was a risk and did not send him.

"I have decided today that Prince Harry will not deploy as a troop leader with his squadron," Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, British army chief of staff, told reporters at the time. "There have been a number of specific threats, some reported, some not reported, which relate directly to Prince Harry as an individual."

The statue depicts Harry without ears, as insurgents threatened to kidnap him and send him back to his grandmother without his ears. The statue's severed ears will be sold on eBay, according to www.princeharrymemorial.com, a Web site that also features pictures of the statue's mold.

The prince's spokespeople refused to comment.

On the streets of London, many of the people ABC News spoke to said they did not particularly like Prince Harry, especially after the media showed pictures of him wearing a swastika, but most were shocked by the idea of the statue.

"It's a bit morbid to have a dead statue of someone who is not dead," said Gordon Bennell, 26. "If I were Harry, I would be freaked out!"

Williams Remes, 31, said he found the statue "pretty outrageous," but hopes it will send a political message "on the number of troops who died in Iraq, as opposed to the people who cannot serve in Iraq."

"The point is that we got loads of people dying there," said Remes.

"War is quite outrageous — that's the whole point," said Edwards.

Edwards said that he was sympathetic to Prince Harry's desire to serve in Iraq and that he chose the red-headed royal because he is "the most well-known potential soldier for the Iraq War."

When Harry heard he was not going, said Edwards, "I felt relieved for him. It would have been a stressful situation."

Edwards said he hoped Prince Harry will understand that "this piece was made with respect to him, but we speak a different language."