Artist depicts Britain's Prince Harry as soldier killed in Iraq

A New York artist known for provocative sculptures of celebrities will unveil a new work depicting Britain's Prince Harry as a soldier who has been killed in Iraq.

The "Iraq War Memorial" features Prince Harry _ who is alive and well _ laid out before the British flag with a bouquet of red roses filling his helmet. The work will be shown at the Bridge Art Fair, an international exhibition in London on Oct. 11-14.

Clarence House, Prince Charles' office, had no comment.

Daniel Edwards, whose past sculptures include a nude Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug and an interactive autopsy of Paris Hilton with removable organs, said he was inspired by Prince Harry's willingness to sacrifice for his country.

"The inspiration came from what he was willing to risk," Edwards said. "Everybody knew that he would be a big target, but he was still determined to go fight, and so the sculpture more or less represents what he was willing to put on the line, and that's his life. It's an idea of bravery." Depicting a real soldier who had died, he said, would have offered an "idea of tragedy."

Edwards said he began the sculpture in May, after military chiefs ruled that the publicity surrounding Harry's deployment could put his unit at a higher risk. Harry was not sent to Iraq.

The prince has said he is determined to continue his army career.

Asked whether the sculpture could be seen as in bad taste, Edwards said the public was already imagining the worst outcome of Harry's desire to serve in Iraq.

"The world had to face and visualize that image for six months," he said. "Militia leaders were putting a bounty on him. It was a visual that everyone had in their head and the sculpture is a realization of that visual. I wouldn't call it any worse taste than the original content of that story."

Edwards said increasing apathy toward the war in Iraq was part of the motivation for creating the sculpture.

"Maybe this monument can inspire more people to speak up, and pay closer attention to the war," he said.