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March 18, 2024 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
34:34
20240318_royals-have-lost-the-narrative
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Time Text
Changing Royal Information Consumption 00:02:04
The late Queen's motto was never complain, never explain.
There may be furore, frenzy, and fabrication, but the monarchy should maintain a position of dignity and stoicism that befits its status and stability above the fray.
In the most part, it always worked for her.
Times, well, they are a changing.
The royal family is changing.
The way people consume information about the royal family is changing.
And through a series of unforced errors, the royals have completely lost control of a narrative they would dearly like to control.
The front page of today's Sun newspaper reports that the Princess of Wales looked happy, relaxed, and healthy on her first public outing since abdominal surgery.
Although that is not a picture, as they make clear, of her.
It's an old one.
It's not taken on this visit to a farm.
They say that she and William spent the morning watching her three children play sports, and then they went to her favourite local farm shop in Windsor.
And that's obviously good news.
It means Kate is clearly on the mend.
That's what everybody wants to hear.
But there are no photographs with that story for whatever reason, nor any named witnesses to the walkabout.
For those who spent weeks speculating wildly about everything from the seriousness of her health struggles to the state of their marriage, it's unlikely to be enough to draw a line under this.
There are many unanswered questions about the Princess of Wales and the calamitous edited photographs she released last week.
We've documented them in detail on the show.
At a time of indisputable crisis, it feels a bit like a bit of explaining and if necessary, complaining, maybe exactly what the Prince and Princess of Wales need to do.
The public's reverence for the royals depends on integrity and on trust, and both of those things have taken a battery.
Only William and Kate can really put this right.
And amid the digital maelstrom that's rocked the royals' global reputation, of course, Meghan Markle has entered the conversation.
The same day that Princess Diana's memory was being honored, she launched a new luxury lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard, whatever that means.
It will apparently sell nuts, butters, garlic spreads, and edible oils and fats to the rapidly diminishing number of people who may still see her as an inspirational, aspirational figure.
Trust and Integrity in Crisis 00:15:52
But the timing, well, pretty cynical, wasn't it?
The continued exploitation of fading royal status by these two in Montecito is increasingly trashy.
Why would you announce this on the very day that Prince William is standing up in London to pay tribute to his late mother?
And the products, let's be honest, they sound wretched, don't they?
We're entering the D-list of the Sussex Circus, which contrasts with the dignity of William and Kate.
And it's, of course, precisely why Harry and Megan lost the hearts and minds of royal fans everywhere in the first place.
It's also why it's so important that William and Kate now win back the public's trust.
Well, Jordan, the author of Catherine the Princess of Wales, which is out in July, Robert Jobson, lawyer Paula Roan Adrian, podcaster and comedian James Barr, and from America, the founder and editor of TMZ, Harvey Living.
Well, Harvey, let's go to you first.
You guys had the first picture of Kate a week or so ago taken in a car with her mother, we believe on the school run.
I know she's been to see the kids at school since then as well.
She didn't, I have to say, Harvey, look much like the Kate you saw in the beaming Mother's Day picture, where she looked a picture of radiant health.
In fact, quite the opposite.
You've dealt with celebrities and royals for your entire career.
What do you make of all this?
Well, I think I haven't seen this kind of bungling since prosecutors handed OJ Simpson that glove.
I mean, it has been a fiasco.
Not just what they said, which got them in trouble, but what they didn't say.
I mean, they're putting out pictures that are edited, and then when they're asked to release the unedited photo, they refuse.
I mean, what are they expecting?
That there will be conspiracy theories.
And I don't even want to call them conspiracy theories because people are just not buying the official story because of the way the palace has handled it.
And when you look at the picture that we posted, you know, there are people now that are so skeptical, they're reviewing it like the famous Zapruder film that was shot when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, where you can see bricks outside the car that don't necessarily match with the way the bricks look from inside the car.
So the trust of Buckingham Palace has just been obliterated because of this.
And Pierce, I mean, the idea that major news outlets are treating what the palace puts out the way they treat what comes out of Iran and North Korea with kill notices is just breathtaking.
Yeah, and unprecedented.
The other problem they have is they're becoming a bit of a running laughing stock in America.
You know, we've seen the late night hosts piling in and in Stephen Colbert's case, openly talking about the affair rumors involving William, which have never been published in the UK, and which, to be fair, we have no knowledge if that's true or not, but they're being openly discussed now on American television.
And can I just say, going back to the Mother's Day picture, I mean, if this is being managed by anybody at the palace, why didn't she have a wedding ring on?
I mean, it would have been such a no-brainer, so easy to do that.
But every step along the way, there have been so many missteps that people are simply believing nothing.
Yeah, and the problem is, if you're trying to put out the fires of conspiracy theories, you don't do it by chucking a load of gasoline onto the fire, which is what they've done through all this.
I mean, I have a lot of blame actually for the palace press teams who just seem to have massively dropped the ball here.
The idea that they wouldn't immediately ask, has this been edited if they're going to release it as proof that everything's fine, is to me completely baffling.
Kim Kardashian was on my way to find Kate, she said.
You know, like I say, when you become a laughing stock like this, but also playing to the conspiracy theories of where the hell is Kate, it's not good, is it, for the royals?
Well, it's terrible for the royals.
And look, it's not just a one-off.
When you go back to the way they handled the crumbling of the marriage of Diane and Charles, when you look at Diana leaving Buckingham Palace and looking at the way that was handled, the way her death was handled, the way Pris Andrew was handled, the way Megan and Harry was handled.
I mean, there have been a series of bungles over a quarter century.
But I think of all of them, at least, you know, it's hard to put context to it because we're in the middle of it.
But this is feeling like the worst one, because this is not just the palace being heartless.
It's the palace being unbelievable, the palace not having credibility.
And without that foundational credibility, I don't know how they move forward.
I've never known so many people in America contacting me on a regular, even as I've been talking to you, I've had a couple of takes from high-profile people on American media asking what is going on with the royal family.
Is it the beginning of the end?
And so on.
America does seem to be really agon with all this.
I cover everything that goes on in this country and have for decades.
And this is one of those things.
You're right.
It has just taken over.
This is what people are talking about here.
This is number one and everything else far below number two.
I mean, it is, people are consumed with it because it's a mystery.
People in this country love mysteries.
You know, I don't know if you guys get dateline there, but it's very popular here because you always want to figure out who done it.
And I think this is a whodone it right now.
It's just that the version that's being released from the palace is off the table.
People aren't buying it.
They think it's got to be something different.
That's why these social media conspiracies are, some of them are really catching fire.
Because as long as you have a thread that connects those theories to something with this, people are going to talk about it.
It is number one in America right now.
And we have a presidential election.
Right, which is incredible.
And in the middle of all this, you've got the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Megan and Harry in California, still proving to be a massive thorn in the side of the royal family.
On the day that William stands up in London to pay tribute to his mother, 25 years on with the foundation that was set up in her memory, there is Meghan Markle announcing the release of her new Instagram project, where she's going to make garlic jams or something.
People seeing this as a quite deliberate attempt to take the attention away.
I have a slightly different take on this, Piers, than you do.
I think in America, in a way, Harry and Megan are in the upswing because what I'm hearing is people saying, well, Megan was right.
It's impossible being a member of that family.
And people who think that Kate might have had some kind of a nervous breakdown, they're looking at what happened to Megan.
They're looking at what happened to Diana.
And they're saying, yep, it's impossible to live in that family.
Megan and Harry may be right.
So in a way, I think in terms of their status in terms of PR in America, it's gone up as a result of this.
How interesting.
Because over here, all the polls are, they're getting more and more unpopular.
America is very important, Harvey, to the royal family, to the monarchy.
I think if you took the American love of our royals away, you would be taking a very, very large chunk of their viability as a working, serving monarchy.
How damaging has all this been, do you think, to the brand of the royal family and the monarchy?
I'll tell you why I think this is really damaging.
That a lot of people in America, honestly, myself included, think that the royal family, it's just this stodgy group of people behind this big wall at Buckingham Palace, and that William and Kate were kind of a breath of fresh air, that they were young, that they kind of connected to young people around the world, that they understood media.
And now the way I think a lot of people are viewing this is they're using the same playbook as the 70 and 80 year olds in the palace.
And so there was this feeling and maybe even hope that William and Kate would dust off, you know, what had been going on in the palace for years.
And I think now they're kind of viewing them as part of the problem.
Yeah.
Harvey Levin, always brilliant to talk to you.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I appreciate it.
My pleasure, Pierce.
So Harvey, one of the smartest guys in American media, I've known him a long time, very plugged in, knows the celebrity game like nobody knows the royal game from their side of things.
Interesting, I thought, Robert, first off what he said about Megan and Harry, how in America they might be having a slight revisionist period where people are saying, well, this is what they were complaining about.
This life's awful.
Well, it certainly looks like it, doesn't it?
There's no question about that.
They've made, as he was saying, so many mistakes from beginning to end of this.
Why?
I mean, I don't know.
Who is running the palace press teams that is allowing all this to happen?
Well, number one, they've got this split press team.
Back in the day when we were working together on the sun, you know, they'd have one umbrella.
Buckingham Palace would speak for it all.
So what is it now?
It's now Buckingham Palace speaks for the king and the other royals.
And they have Kensington Palace, which speaks for William and Kate.
And so this mistake is really through Kensington Palace.
Now, that's an error in itself because you haven't got an overview.
The whole overview, it means you've got things going on in different directions.
And there's even people saying, oh, that's Kensington Palace's problem.
No, it's not.
It's the whole of the royal family's problem.
As we're seeing, people are judging them, saying, this is worse than North Korea, worse than Iran.
This is outrageous.
They don't trust what's coming out there.
Now, we've over the years had plenty of times where we didn't trust them, but the mistakes are huge.
They have a photographer.
They have Boris Johnson's old photographer, Andrew Parsons, who used to work with Boris behind the scenes.
All those black and white pictures of his kids and everything, all of that was taken by...
They have Andrew working with them.
So why didn't he take the picture?
Why isn't he taking pictures now of them going to the table?
Why did nobody in the palace press office at Kensaball?
Why did they not ask her if she'd edited these pictures?
That is a fake.
Because it looks so obviously edited.
Well, we could see that.
I think, again, it was a case of, oh, William and Kate will run it themselves.
William doesn't necessarily want anybody else around Kate at this time.
I'll do the picture.
We're sort of out ourselves.
But this is global.
Look at the fiasco that it's caused.
The question should have been asked, if you were running the show, if I was on the show, has anyone touched this picture up?
Right, it doesn't look first question because I'm going to issue this.
And it doesn't matter if it's a family photo.
No.
It's officially released by, I mean, let's just say the palace.
And that's the impact it's had.
Paula, even as we're about to have this debate, you know, the Ukraine-British embassy has given an official statement to say King Charles III is still alive after Russian media claimed he died as a result of cancer complications.
It's not true.
He is still alive.
But they issued a statement saying we would like to inform you that the news about the death of King Charles III is fake.
This is, it feels like really out of control almost.
And it may be that the reality is nowhere near it's out of control, but the perception of what is happening is that it's chaotic and everyone's panicking because they're like, is Charles dying?
What is wrong with Kate?
Where is she?
What happened with that picture?
It's like constant kind of uncertainty.
And this is the thing.
It really didn't have to be this complicated, did it?
It really didn't.
Because depending on what the reality is.
Well, what we're being asked to believe is that somebody who we know is an amateur photographer has taken many photographs of her children.
We have had them published and we've been able to marvel over them.
But on this occasion, it has all gone so dreadful.
Do you know why?
And you touched on an interesting thing there.
I would go back, I would say probably all her pictures have probably been edited.
It's going to be them.
There's a famous picture of the queen shortly before she died with all the great-grandchildren.
And they're all looking at the camera and smiling.
I've got a lot of kids in my family.
The idea that they're all under 12, they'd all be looking at the camera smiling is impossible.
So that has clearly been edited.
Now, the problem is it's about trust.
If the media are now going to start rejecting everything given to them by the palace, that's a real slippery slope.
I've never known this where news agencies like Reuters and AP issued a kill notice, basically saying, do not touch this.
We can't trust them.
It's unprecedented, isn't it?
There's this emotional contract, remember, between the subjects, us and the royal family.
We love the royal family and they are supposed to love us, which means that they don't lie to us.
They don't mislead us.
Yes.
And this is what we love.
And they don't love them.
But James, the problem here, I think, if you ask me to put my finger on it, William, like Harry, right, because of what happened to their mother, and I completely understand this, if that had been me and my mother being chased into an underpass by paparazzi, right?
Whatever the reality, which is actually it was a drunk driver that caused the accident and the paparazzi were a thousand yards away, and all this, right?
The reality is if you're those boys at the age they were, 15 and 12, you think the media killed your mother.
So this is a burning dislike of the media generally.
But I think that's an interesting point because is it the media that's coming for Kate right now or asking questions?
Not really.
The media in this country is playing the game.
They're telling everyone.
We did run the TMZ picture, which Harvey's team got, right?
We didn't run it here.
But they are.
They are peddling these stories that the palace are asking them to put out, like the farm shop.
I mean, that's ridiculous.
No one's there.
No one saw it happen.
It would have happened.
But how do you know that happened?
So this is really interesting, isn't it?
It would have been.
Rob immediately says that happened.
How did it happen?
I'm sure from talking to the...
That's why Victoria Newton run that story now.
Sorry, do we trust the sun now?
Because that's actually on this I would.
Yeah, absolutely.
Because I've spoken to the editor.
Can I tell you what?
No, hang on.
I just want to make that point.
It's interesting that your first reaction is not to trust us.
Yeah, well, I think that's true.
Because the palace may have spoon federal farm shop.
This is the problem.
Look, I actually think she was at the farm shop.
However, why do you think none of the public took a picture?
Well, I understand why you don't believe it, because that comes down to the issue of trust, which has been severely damaged.
Absolutely.
It's like me saying I saw the Loch Ness Monster and it was happy and healthy.
I haven't seen a picture of her.
I don't see, I don't think, and I might be, maybe I'm one of the many conspiracy theorists on this, but when I saw the picture of Kate in the car with her mother taken by TMZ, it bears no relation to the picture we saw that she issued on that Mother's Day.
And in fact, a lot of sleuths on the internet have said this is an old picture from an old set.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.
I just don't think she looks like she does in that Mother's Day picture.
So did she put in an old picture?
We don't know because the palace won't release the original picture of the trust.
And that in itself, to me, as a former tabloid editor, is like, well, that stinks, right?
Why wouldn't you just release the original?
Because we know completely.
And we know that we're always told, don't we, a royal source said, a friend close to Kate said, the witness said, that's not enough.
It's not anymore.
Doubts About Kate's Image 00:09:42
It's not enough.
That's not enough, Piers.
And, you know, Harvey really referenced a relevant.
Well, we've cleared it.
The point of it is, you say that's not enough.
I mean, I've spent 35 years covering the Royal Family with sources.
I broke the story that Charles was to marry Camilla.
Not with a name source.
Within a day, it was confirmed.
The sources do exist, and they are real.
I don't believe the editor of The Sun in 2024 would just take a punt like that and get it wrong.
I just don't.
And you may have your reasons.
You may not trust the Sun, but I work for The Sun.
Piers worked for the Sun.
I totally believe Victoria Newton would publish that knowing it's true.
I know she's got very good sources of the palace.
I'm interested with James with you, because you've been very passionate in your defense of Meghan Markle.
I totally respect your right to do that.
And it's interesting hearing what Harvey said about the way it's being slightly revised now, their complaints in light of what's going on.
I understand that too.
But you did a picture of yourself wearing a free Kate t-shirt.
Yes.
Which many would say, well, you're kind of mocking a woman who's very been serious about this.
I don't think so.
But you were accused of doing that.
Do you not think of it?
Do you not think there's a slight double standard there?
Absolutely not.
You race to protect Megan from any criticism, but you pile in.
But that's not a criticism of Kate.
But what do you want to say?
I want to free her from this particular situation where no one is saying anything.
The truth isn't.
She's still the palace of controlling a narrative.
But do we know that?
Yes, we do know that.
Why do we know so much about King Charles?
How much are you selling that?
Because the king is the head of state.
Do you want a t-shirt?
How much are you selling?
I'm selling them for £20.
£20 on my website.
And actually, to be fair, to be fair, it's a great charity.
Which is a charity.
Check them out.
They're called James Barr Currents Council.
I'll give you the charity money, but I just think that is...
To be fair, to be fair, we have a celebrity royal family now.
Free from what?
We have a celebrity royal family now.
We have 74,000.
We had three breaks.
Hang on, she'll go reach out.
That is what she's doing, and that is what's going on here.
She's going to have a period of time of recuperation, and I'm sure after Easter, as they said, she will be back.
And if that is all.
All of this nonsense will just disappear.
If that is the case.
She handled it badly.
Yes.
If that is the case, and she does keep to the timetable they set out from the start, that you know, somewhere around mid-April, after the Easter holidays, she appears somewhere and she talks about this.
And from what I hear, and again, I don't know for sure, but from what I hear, it was a situation.
It was a health issue that many women have, and they may have found some other complication that went with it, which made it more complicated.
But they fixed everything and she's going to be fine.
That's great news.
So it's all good news.
And I hope that is, I've been accurately told this by a good source, but I think that is maybe what's happened here.
And that she will talk about this when she's over it, right?
You know, I've talked to a lot of women at the weekend about this.
No woman would want to discuss this while it's going on, right?
Let's be clear.
Women's health issues are not for public consumption.
But that's not.
Even in the average family, never mind it.
So we can demand more information, and I think it's in their interest to be a little bit more transparent.
But ultimately, you're talking about a woman who has been through a hell of a health issue and who has also been through being called a racist by her sister-in-law, which is terrible, which is despicable, in my opinion, and I think completely.
But actually, can I just correct you on that?
I don't think Megan said that specifically.
I think she said literally Kate is a racist.
She said that she is the one that she was talking about, along with Charles, who expressed, we know this from Yaomi Scobie leaked book in Holland.
That comes from Open that Meghan Markle wrote a letter to King Charles, in which she said that they had had racially incendiary comments about the skin colour of her child, which I just don't believe, right?
I said it at the time.
I don't believe it now.
I certainly don't think Kate has a racist bone in her body, but she's had to deal with everyone believing she may be a racist.
Let me ask you, Paul, about that.
Yes.
As a black woman, how do you look at Kate now?
Did you believe that?
Right.
So, first of all, I think we're mixing the two stories.
No, I'm talking about the general stress she's been under.
It's not just been the health thing.
She's lost Prince Philip, right?
Her husband's grandfather.
Her husband's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, also died.
Seismic shock and moves her husband into second place for the succession to the throne.
They've had all this mudslinging from the Sussex, particularly the racism claims aimed directly at Kate, right?
You put all this together.
That's a lot for a woman to deal with in the goldfish bowl of global media.
I see Kate and Meghan as being very similar characters.
What?
It's easy to point the finger of blame towards.
I can't think of more different people if you try.
I can very easily have sympathy for both of them as a woman and as a woman at a time.
Do you believe Kate's a racist?
I have no idea whether she is.
Did you believe Meghan Markle when she first said that on Oprah Winfrey that members are officially?
I was just going to say, I don't think that that's a problem.
No, that holds me.
Did you believe that members of the royal family?
Let me ask you, the secrets of events, did you believe at the time, are you on record as having said that Meghan Markle, if she says members of the royal family were making racial inferences about the skin colour and potentially of her child, did you believe her?
So, well, I understand she said.
I lost a job over it.
So it's personal.
Well, I think what you lost a job over was not apologising, we're just believing it.
No, no, it was in relation to raising allegations.
And that was specifically why.
And disputing the status of her mental health.
No, no, that's not a problem.
Just for not believing it generally.
But I worry that we're veering off course here.
Answer my question, though.
And that we're dealing with instead of the specifics.
Fine, but answer my question.
So did you at the time believe Meghan Markle's racism claims?
No.
My understanding was it was Harry.
So your focus is on Meghan, which concerns me, but actually, it was.
Megan's the one who said it on Oprah Winfrey.
Megan, so thank you.
So then she was repeating what Harry said.
So why are we not asking Harry?
I've only asked him, didn't he?
So that's why she focused on it.
We never said they were racist.
I appreciate that you want to focus the blame on Megan, but actually I think your focus is incorrect and imprecise on this occasion.
It was Harry that raised it.
No, it wasn't.
And then Harry dealt with it.
She raised it.
She raised it on Oprah Winford.
Harry spoke to her about that.
And so your question to me then, should she have raised it?
I see no reason why not.
She trusts her husband.
She has faith in her husband.
Why did her husband believe that?
Do you believe Chase's a racist?
I've just said to you, I have no idea.
Then you're curious.
Because the idea of it.
Should she have believed her husband?
And the answer is yes.
On another matter, you would say, well, the way that we're seen with the king, we've seen all the way that they've handled the king.
They put out...
Well, that's because he's the king.
Constitutionally, he has to be doing his duties and doing his job.
And that's why they've done it that way.
But it comes back to what I said at the beginning.
That was handled by Buckingham Palace.
This has been handled by Kensington Palace, and they've got their own desires.
William has got his own issues with the press.
And he doesn't want anybody infiltrating anything to the past.
And I don't think, Rob, I don't think you can divorce the Meghan and Harry sang from all this.
It's all part of it, right?
You know, we don't know if she's had some kind of breakdown, Kate.
That's what some of the rumours are about.
I don't know if that's true.
But it wouldn't surprise me.
Megan said that she'd had a breakdown and you dismissed that.
Well, I didn't believe her.
Yeah.
I thought a lot of her claims on Oprah were clearly palpable nonsense.
She said that she and Harry got married by the Archbishop of Canterbury in their back garden.
Had that been true, the Archbishop of Canterbury would have gone to prison.
Now what's happening is that people are doubting Kate's.
Had that been true.
That's what's happening now, Piers.
I understand that.
Had that been true.
The Archbishop of Canterbury would have been a passion.
She apologised.
She apologised to her.
Oh no, for faking the pitch.
Yeah, that photograph.
And a lot of people have concerns that she's somewhat being thrown under the bus about.
Well, I actually do have concerns.
I think Kensington Palace should have taken full responsibility and not Kate and not William.
What about this idea that Harvey floated, which is that this sort of proves Megan and Harry's point?
Let me try and be devil's advocate.
People know my position about them.
I've got zero sympathy.
However, it's interesting if Americans are starting to think, well, you know what?
This is the kind of stuff they were talking about.
It is.
It is.
It's a hellish life being trapped in this world.
William, I know, is very angry about the whole thing.
Yeah.
Right.
And about his life and stuff.
He's got to be king.
He's never going to...
He can't leave.
He could, but he's not going to...
I think it's utterly disgusting that they had such a difficult time here and that the press continued to hound and you were part of that, Piers, and still are.
Hound Megan.
I don't think they did.
Honestly, I think there's articles out today calling them disgusting, narcissists, etc.
And I just think they need to be literally just trying to be wonderful.
And what they said to Oprah, what they said in that interview and what Harry was in his books is very important because there are an American author.
There are red flags.
And the fact that she has said that is an American author.
It's not a British press.
This is actually...
I don't trust the British press.
Sorry, why are you trusting the British press?
Because I've worked for the British press for 35 years.
I think you sit there to think that they'll put any old rubbish on the front page.
You're living in cuckoo land.
I'm absolutely right.
With a silly t-shirt on.
Thank you.
I'm not laughing at Cuckoo.
I'm saying what's going on.
You're believing not to trust an institution.
No, I believe in the belief in the public.
Did you believe the title straight out of Compton?
Straight out of Canfield.
I did not believe that.
No, I didn't.
I didn't believe that.
No, but I've never seen it.
You know what I mean?
I'm simply making the statement.
Talking about you free Kate from what?
What do you mean?
Don't trust the media.
They don't just put things in the paper willy-nilly like that.
Are you kidding?
No, I'm not.
Generational Press Issues Explained 00:06:12
Yes, they do.
Don't be wrong.
But they said some insane things.
No, I'm not saying insane things.
That's what the public like you like to think.
It's not true.
I used to run a newspaper.
It just isn't.
Yes, it is.
We know.
Fine.
We know all about it.
Fine.
No, you think you don't want to.
So tell me why it's true that Kate was in a farm shop, but nobody from the world.
No one that works in the future.
Because I'd often have people going to farm shops.
I was in one myself two weeks ago.
Nobody photographed either.
I'm sorry, I forgot that we live in the 1900s where no one has a camera.
And not only that, but come on.
This is a worldwide story that is gone stratospheric.
If you were that witness, we would know who that is.
I would imagine it's the same reason.
I don't know who that's.
Let me ask him.
Let me ask him.
Let me ask you a question.
She goes to the school a lot where the kids are at school.
We never see pictures of them at the school taken by any of the other parents.
Do you know why?
They just have a respect for the two royals and know their lives are difficult and they don't want to sell pictures.
I do appreciate that.
They should be applauded for it.
It may be in the farm shop.
The public there has the same view.
Listen, Russia is now trolling the UK with this ridiculous and deeply offensive statement because they know they can get away with it.
I think that is wrong and terrible.
And I'm not, I honestly think our prime minister should do something about it because he works for us and I'm afraid the monarchy don't feel like they work for us at the minute.
Yeah, listen, I think we can all agree on that.
Rob, just generally about the statements.
We've got to understand that there are rules and regulations that the proper media have to be run by it.
You can't, that story would have been gone to the Kensington Palace and they would have said, yes, but please don't say where the tennis club was and please don't do this.
That's how it would have been done.
And of course they would have run the truth.
That is utter nonsense.
Rob, let me ask you just generally.
Richard Kay, one of the most eminent royal writers for decades, Diana's close personal friend, he wrote a very interesting piece at the weekend, basically saying that this has got to feel about it.
This could be the beginning of the end of the monarchy.
And we are to remind people, we are one of the last surviving European monarchies.
So this is not as far-fetched as it may seem.
What do you think of that?
I thought it was a very good piece.
I think everybody at Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace need to wake up and read that piece and accept what it is and listen to people from the outside and say, look, we've got to sort ourselves out of here.
And I think without the king at the helm, because clearly the king, although he's doing his constitutional duties, there's a lack of continuity, a lack of authenticity, a lack of leadership since Her Majesty went.
And I think that actually someone's got to get a grip here.
And the problem is the person who may have got the grip, Charles, is not well.
He's very ill, right?
He's got cancer at 75.
Whatever he's got, and we don't know what it is, but we do know it's incapacitating him and his wife, Camilla.
He's tiring.
He's been having to do a lot of the work.
Interestingly, I was told by somebody the other day that all that Fiori over her going on holiday, she didn't.
I mean, why was she going on holiday from the first place?
She's having a two days off.
Right.
I mean, she's 75 too.
I mean, most women at 75 aren't working.
They're not normally working at that age.
So, I mean, she's putting in a lot of...
The K piece was a very good piece, very on the button.
I agree.
Look, we don't want the monarchy to end, do we?
Especially, I think they've got to back up that.
I think there is a generational issue here.
And like with the t-shirt, free Kate, we had the free Brittany in relation to the conservation.
That's why you got it for me.
We have this celebrity royal family now.
And we can't get away from that.
And the problem is there is a disconnect between certain generations and the younger generation.
And we're seeing that now in the way that people are prepared to question and see.
I'm sure that's right.
Why not show pictures of her looking at get-world cars or videos?
Now, I would have definitely, and I agree with this, definitely.
That's what it should have done.
And they have a photographer on their staff.
Yeah, I agree.
Andrew Parsons did all the backstage stuff.
I agree with you.
And by the way, if they'd done that and she looked and if she did look slightly frailer than normal, the public sympathy would have been enormous.
Of course.
Right, so I really think they have dropped the ball.
Absolutely.
And I think the fact that she had to carry the camera at all personally, I thought William should have been with her on that.
Yes.
And I thought the palace should have taken responsibility for what you're saying.
Two photographs should have been issued, and it should have been our mistake.
And it should have been Kensington Palace take the part.
Yeah, I also want to just say something because I do feel slightly attacked by this t-shirt.
But if I was Kate and you're making money out of her ill health, listen.
You are.
I'm not making money out of her ill health.
If I were Kate and I was unwell, if these stories are true, if what they're telling us is true, then genuinely I think that comedy heals.
And so if she is seeing things on the internet that aren't true, like is she made of cake?
I'm sure that is insane.
There's a lot, lot worse that's been said.
Of course there is, but there's a lot and some of the things as a lawyer, I'm sure you think must be abhorrent.
And so you're taking part in that.
And at the end of the day, I think it's daft because it's what you're freeing her from.
But the fact is that toxic situation.
So you think you know.
I don't think that's the case.
I think she's freaking.
She's requesting from a serious operation.
No, but what I'm saying is it's that celebrity mindset that you're seeing unfolding here.
A lot of dependent.
There's a lot of people.
You know why?
Because they are the biggest celebrities in the world.
Yeah, and there's a lot of people.
That's what's been proven.
That's what we're learning now.
I've always known that.
The British Royal Family are the biggest artists.
But they will all be...
Lots of people now with different TV shows, podcasts, everything.
They're all depending on this person being out and about.
At the moment, she's not out and about.
That is the problem.
But it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong just because she hasn't been able to do it.
I'm not sure that is the only problem, actually.
I think what they said was right.
Well, they should have done that.
I think there's a lot of problems with the Royal Family.
They should have done that.
Do we know why William missed his godfather's memorial?
I think I do know, yeah.
What do you think it was?
I think he had a disagreement with a member of the Royal Family.
I don't believe it's anything to do with his children.
One thing to remember here is that they are human beings, the same as everybody else, and things happen.
Who was the other member?
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that.
You make a good point.
You've got to remember the human beings.
Concerns Over Mocked Children 00:00:41
And the fact that there are children involved, and that these children are now being mocked online.
And that is my concern.
Absolutely.
And that was my concern.
Let's end on all agreeing that that is a concern, because it is, because they have been mocked mercilessly.
And unfortunately, it was their parents' fault.
And we saw this Mari and William when they were growing up.
You can't get away from it.
But I don't like that the internet and that we're being told we're hounding Kate.
I don't think that's fair.
Well, it is fair.
You only see hounding when it's Megan, not when it's in Kate.
I think when it's Kate, it's our cover t-shirts, my one for 20 quid, having a good laugh at her expense.
But that's okay.
Hypocrisy is the beauty of the world.
Let me thank you all very much indeed for joining me.
I appreciate it.
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