Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers Morgan Uncensored: Coronation Controversy, Guardian Race Storm, Katherine Jenkins Exclusive

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

On tonight's episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Piers debates the palace's invitation to the public to swear allegiance to The King at the coronation, is this a tone deaf misstep? Piers discusses the Guardian editor who faces calls so resign over an anti-Semitic cartoon. Piers has an exclusive with Katherine Jenkins for some coronation celebrations. Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8 pm on TalkTV on Sky 522, Virgin Media 606, Freeview 237 and Freesat 217. Listen on DAB+ and the app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Piers Morgan. I'm censored tonight. The palace invites the public to swear allegiance to the king and his heirs and successors at this week's coronation. But is it a patriotic boost for a people's celebration or a tone-deaf misstep? It's a gift for the doormongers will debate. Silence from normally censorious guardian journalists on a shocking anti-Semitic cartoon. Just a week after his sister paper published a shocking anti-Semitic letter. Does the British left have an anti-Semitism problem and a problem with rank hypocrisy? She's the lungs of a nation. For me, the new Dame Vera Ling,

world-class songstress Catherine Jenkins is here to kick off a week of coronation celebrations with a world-exclusive interview and a series of nightly performances just for us. From the news building in London, this is Pearce Morgan Uncensored. Well, good evening from London, and welcome to Pierce Morgan, Uncensored.

On a bank holiday. I know what you're thinking. He's underpaid. He's overworked. And they even drag him in on a bank holiday. But that's how you get to the top. Commitment and dedication on days when everybody else is having barbecues and lying by the beach.

Not me. Oh, no. Oh, no. It's Coronation Week. And like it or not, the eyes of the world are on the British monarchy. This will be an historic state occasion. To put it in context, think about this. The procession on Saturday will be twice as big

as the procession for the Queen's funeral, three times as big as the procession for the Platinum Jubilee. This will be the biggest celebration of our monarchy and British modern history since, of course, the Queen's coronation back in 1953. But ultimately, it belongs to the British people. The monarchy belongs to the British people. But in trying to make precisely that point,

the palace has begun this momentous week with what looks to me like a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of. a misstep and I'll tell you why. In a striking change to an ancient ritual, the watching public will be invited to pay homage to King Charles by reciting an oath of allegiance, something normally reserved for aristocrats in Westminster Abbey. It's supposed to make the service inclusive, a people's coronation, they say, but instead it's played into the hands of the naysayers and Republicans bent on souring this coronation. Seasons like this up at Celtic feel like a kind of inevitable response to being asked to pay homage and bear allegiance to the king.

Well, utterly charming, of course, as ever from Celtic fans, but that's what they've always been like towards our monarchy, and I have a similar view of Celtic fans, so all's fair and love and war. Now, they've got mixed feelings, obviously, about this. They're not even mixed, really. I've got mixed feelings, too, because our king has earned allegiance from us with the longest apprenticeship in history and a lifetime of duty and service. I will defend King Charles and the institution of the monarchy to the hilt as a unifying force for good in his country. But as always, the devil lurks in the detail.

The order of service will say, all those who so desire in the Abbey and elsewhere say together, I swear but I will pay true allegiance to your majesty. So look, so far so good. I've got no problem with those words. I can imagine a lot of people are home actually saying, yeah, I can say that, I can go along with that. Nothing dictatorial about that.

bit. All those who desire can get involved. All those who don't desire can keep their big gobs shut or change the channel or go and watch Celtic. But then the oath concludes with this. And to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God. And this is where I've got a problem. The king's heirs and successes, well, they include a rather unsavory bunch of characters that many British people might rather lock in the Tower of London than pay allegiance and homage to. Let's not forget that Prince Harry, the great royal traitor, is fifth in line to the throne, despite having done more than anybody in living memory with the possible exception of his wife to trash and undermine the institution were supposed to be celebrating.

A little further down the list is Prince Andrew, eighth in line to the throne, who recently paid a woman he said he'd ever met, $11 million to avoid getting into court to contest a sex abuse scandal. His calamitous PR decisions have heaped global embarrassment on the Royals. Now, I believe passionately in the British monarchy, but I'd rather be garotted, frankly, than swear my allegiance to either Harry or Andrew. I suspect most British people feel the same.

In a severe cost of living crisis, and with polls showing more than half of the British people don't care about the coronation, especially young people, the idea of pledging allegiance to an unelected head of state feels like the wrong answer to a serious question. If King Charles wanted this to be an inclusive gesture, maybe a better place to start would have been shelving the oath altogether or doubling down on the message that he, like all our monarchs,

lives in service to all of us. Well, join me now as an author and a story in Dr. Tessat Dunlop and talk to the presenter, Rosanna Lockwood, and former royal correspondent Michael Cole. Well, welcome to all of you. So, Tessa, I don't know why. As soon as I heard about this oath, and I heard it came from conversation

in the Auschwitz with Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace and Charles and so on. It just felt like they taught themselves into what they all thought was a good idea. But in the cold light of day, when they've seen the reaction, even from a lot of people like me who were pro-monarchy, even I was wincing a bit.

I'm thinking, have they really thought this through? I know. Even you and Sarah Vine. There was this wonderful moment of unity between left and right, everyone feeling a little bit queasy. But do you know what the problem is, Piers? When we drill into you beyond the tiaras and the tinsel, I would question whether you really are a monarchist. Because the point is with hereditary monarchy,

you don't get to choose. And that is where this oath is all wrong, because it's reminded us of the horrible, inconvenient truth that hoisted above us as our head of state is someone we have no say of oath. Well, look, I have no problem with that if the head of state is of the caliber of the Queen media. Well, hang on.

You've had your say. Yeah. Just for the record, I am a monarchist, and I do believe in the royal family, and I think they'd be more good than harm. But Rosanna, the problem I have with the oath is, right now I'll pay allegiance to King Charles because I think he's earned it. Right. But I'm not, you know, there's some problem.

He's not there suddenly. You can't pay an oath on conditions, though, peers. You can't say I'm going to withdraw this at a later point. Why should it be in perpetuity for everybody else on the cab rank? I am going to listen to the historian, Tessa Dunlop on this, And that is how inherited, you know, power works. But I'm glad that you bought up and you're opening monologue that point about dictatorial.

Because when I was thinking about this, there's something quite Soviet almost about everyone looking towards a TV set. And pledging allegiance, the TV set doesn't do it. They say it was an invitation. You're not compelled to do it, obviously, but you're not going to get police running into houses, arresting people.

But I agree. It did have a slight Kim Jong-un feel. Right? You will all... We can all agree on these things. No, but I don't actually agree with you. I think they were trying to conjure up ideas of Merry England and the Maple.

Allegiance to the King. Ho-ho, the medieval times. Where is the Green Man? It just failed. That's all. OK, let's bring in Michael Cole. Michael, you've been listening patiently here. What do you think of this oath?

Well, Peers, as you've said, it is an invitation to people to make an oath of allegiance to the King and his successors. And like any invitation, to a dance or to a wedding, it can be declined or it can be accepted. It is an attempt, and I think it's a well-meaning attempt by His Majesty the King, to involve as many people as possible.

It may be that some people don't want to. They may sneer at the idea. They may be part of a metropolitan elite. But there are many, many people around this country and around the world who will welcome that opportunity to play their personal part in the coronation. Hang on. Okay, hang on. Michael, do you actually think that last year? large groups of people in homes up and down the country

are going to sit around a television and recite this. Do you really think that's going to happen? I do, and I'll tell you why, because this is notionally a Christian country, and many people are not observant, but most of us, given the right occasion, will stumble our way through the Lord's Prayer, and we will take comfort in that.

And I think people will actually feel involved. And let me just say something about hereditary monogynon. There are in the country, in the world, 43 monarchies, and there are 149 republics. So there's plenty of choice. And by and large, the monarchies are the happy lands, and the republics are not necessarily so. By the way, let me ask you. I know you think you're the stato of royal statistics. So what about this one, which I saw on Twitter today, which I loved?

The United Kingdom is one of only two countries in the world that have monarchies. have monarchies where the coronation is a Christian service. Can you name the other one? Well, of course, the king has 14 overseas realms like Canada, Australia, New Zealand. No, no, it doesn't include those. I mean, actual individual countries which have a coronation. Probably, probably Sikkim in the Himalayas. No, apparently, this guy on Twitter, a historian, is Tonga. is the only other place which actually has. Did you get that right?

No, we didn't. I would love to pretend I did, but of course she stole the show at the 1953 coronation. Looking extraordinary in a downpour. I've got a question for Michael. Can we go back to him? As he's such a believer in us notionally

remembering the Lord's Prayer and likewise this Pledge of Allegiance, can you pledge it down the lens right now? Have you learnt it off by heart? No, I haven't, but I have got written down as I have prepared to be on the Pearce Morgan show. The oath that Prince William is going to swear.

And he says, I, William of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship. And faith and truth, I will bear unto you to live and die against all manner of folks. So help me God. Wow. And that was from the days when, yes, indeed,

that was one of the days when it was important for the monarch to establish who is, friends were. A monarchy and a coronation was a matter of life and death. You see, I would only... This is very, very important. To be honest with you, I would only say stuff like that to Tieri-on-Ree or Dennis Burkamp. And your wife?

Possibly Lord Botham, Ian Botham. That's about it. Three sporting ledges. Rosanna, you'd be waiting patient. Yeah, I want my chance with Michael now, because I want to speak on behalf of the sneering Metropolitan... Yes. Given that, you know, I'm a sort of millennial journalist type, even though I live in the countryside in a village.

But I think what people are doing here when they're saying, I don't really want to swear allegiance. You know, they may feel agnostic about the royal family. But the other key thing is they're using their brains, their critical thinking functions, their brain capacity, which is something when it comes to the monarchy in this country, and God bless this country, I love it so much. People seem to sort of remove their brain when it comes to the monarchs.

And they just sort of follow through. And I think that's what this quote, unquote, sneering metropolitan elite, your target... All right. You've answered for charge very well. I want to move on to the other stories being bubbling today. A new interview with the Markle family, led by Thomas Markle, who of course had a stroke a few months ago and was actually quite seriously ill after it. And he's given a new interview which he talks about Megamarkle effectively treating him like he's dead.

Let's take a listen. Let's go somewhere and talk. And I say, what's wrong? What? What? How can I fix this? How can I? fix this.

Of course, I love you. And the bottom of mine, Harry, a nice guy. I love you for my daughter. Meg, I love you. I love my grand children. I love to see them. And open to any kind of conversation. I mean, I found that pretty simple.

sad, actually. That's a very tough watch. I mean, whatever your view about this family war that's going on, he hasn't seen his daughter for five years now. He lives 70 miles away from Montecito. It's an hour in a cab. And he's a broken man by the look of it. He's obviously got a lot of health issues now since the stroke, hence his voice and so on.

But you take your heart of stone, don't it? My issue, again, with Megan and Harry, they preach a lot about compassion. The Archer Well Foundation is all about compassion. Where's the compassion for this guy? Even if he is giving another interview which drives them nuts, as he says, what else can I do? He's got nothing else he can do.

Yeah, I think, that felt like lifting a lid and looking at something that I felt I shouldn't actually be seeing. Right. It was, I agree. We all felt uncomfortable. Very tough watch.

A very tough watch. You want to get in the house of Monte Cito, knock a couple heads together, and look, time's not on your side, just taking one look at Thomas Markle. But Harry and Megan bonded through pain, their childhood pain. They both carry massive, they both carry massive elephants in the room, skeletons from the past, difficult childhoods that we can't fully understand.

Well, hang on. I'm sorry, but we can't. She went to live with Thomas Markle for years, right? So whatever pain it was probably involved her mother at the time. But hang on, we don't, none of us know. Well, we know she lived on her own with Thomas for years. None of us know. We all know that the optics for Megan would look better

if she could reconnect with her father. reason she doesn't feel able to do that. It's just a tawdry and sad state of affairs when you've got a family communicating via exclusive TV interviews and Netflix specials. He will have been paid handsomely. Very, very handsomely. And, you know, it's awful to watch a man who is so sick, appealing to his daughter like that using a TV show. However, of course, he received payment. Of course, you know, Megan and Harry have come out and said that they felt exploited. Yeah, because the one thing those two don't ever want to do is sell their privacy for money. I mean, obviously it would be the last thing they'd think of.

Michael Cole, you reported throughout periods of unbelievable royal traumas, the Diana, Camilla, Charles trilogy and so on. What happens to me? It seems to me what's going to happen. If this plays out the way it looks like it, is Thomas Markle's going to die and he's going to die without ever being reconciled with his daughter and it's just going to be on any level a human tragedy, right?

That's deplorable and it's very, very sad. And if Megan Markle looks into her soul, she will recognise that her father was her entree into show business because he was a very skilled television lighting man, a chief man. He wasn't just the man changing the bulbs. He was the man making the pictures look good. And that's how she got into show business.

That was her entree. And now we've got a situation where Prince Harry is not on speaking terms with almost all of his own family, and she is not on speaking terms with every with any of her family, apart from her mother and one niece. So you've got to ask yourself, in all of this, why is that as it is? Well, I'm doing the maths, and I'm working out who the problem is. You know, my thing is they've been joined, you say, by terrible experience.

I think they've been joined by a love of victimhood, which is a modern-day curse, and a love of weaponising things like mental health, racism and so on, to promote their brand and make themselves stinking rich. I really do. And I know it sounds cynical to say that, but I am very cynical about what they've been doing. I do think that's what they've been doing. Both of them would argue it's a chicken and an egg, which came first? Thomas Markle.

Prince William has been through exactly what Harry's been through, exactly the same. He's ever sold out his family. Hang on a minute. Who's got the second to one big gig on Saturday? You cannot compare the experience of William versus Harry. Going back to that allegiance. You know what?

When I go home for a family dinner, I get the last sausage. It's what happens. It's what happens when you're the big boy, when you're the firstborn, when you're the eldest, you get a few treats in life. Me, the extra sausage. William, he gets to wear a crown and be king.

You can't make a comparison. Yeah, and my siblings don't like it either, but tough titty. Any of your family talked to you? Do you want to... They all talk to me. And you know what? If one of my family did what Harry's done,

that would be it. And what if your dad did what Thomas Markle did? He wouldn't. Well, lucky you. lucky you that you have a dad you can... But I would ostracise him. I mean, Harry's never met the guy. Harry's never met the man

who's daughter he married. It's unbelievable. That is unbelievable. I mean, seriously, it's ridiculous. I think given the way we're talking, what's unbelievable is Harry actually... What is truly unbelievable is brave enough to come. Sadly, we have to lose you now.

It isn't me. We're cutting you, I'm afraid. You're out. You're being replaced, brutally and heartlessly, not because of your views, but because we're moving on to another segment. But I'm lovely to see you, Tessa,

as always. Unsensit and a lot of. Uncanceled, it turned out. Well, unscensored next. Silence on the normally censorious Guardian newspaper journalists on a shocking anti-Semitic cartoon just a week after it published

a shocking anti-Semitic letter. What the hell is going on at the Guardian? What is this staggering obsession with being anti-Semitic? And where is the hypocrisy of these sanctimonious commentators? Remember, they were founded on slavery, these people.

We need to have a chat about the Guardian after the break. Welcome back to Pearson. The Guardian is Britain's woke Bible. It revels in its self-appointed role as a nation's morality police. For the second time, a little over a month, it's been forced into a grovelling apology

for its own foul play. First, it said sorry on its front page for its founders' links to slavery. And now the editors facing calls to resign after an anti-Semitic cartoon this weekend caused outrage in the Jewish community. The image in Saturday's newspaper

used anti-Semitic tropes in a grotesque caricature of outgoing BBC Chairman Richard Sharp is Jewish. Sharp was depicted with an enlarged nose, carrying a box stuffed with gold, a squid, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's head, a pig's head was featured behind it. The image is clearly offensive, but no prominent Guardian commentators have joined the near universal condemnation. Can you imagine if the Sun or the Times or Daily Mail had done something similar, with, for example, a Muslim public figure?

The hypocrisy of that silence is deafening and outrageous. And this, of course, follows the Observer, which is the Guardian's sister paper, publishing that now infamous letter from Diane Abbott, the Labour politician, in which she effectively said that Jewish people only suffer the same kind of prejudice as people with red hair. Well, joining me now has talked to be presenter,

Richard Tice, talent agent Jonathan Shalett, and Rosanna are still with me. So, yeah, Rosanna, let's talk about the Guardian. What is going on at the Guardian? I knew you'd come to me because, you know, I'd take Umbrage with your point, given that it is my woke Bible. Right.

Of course. You know, I love The Guardian. I think it's a great newspaper, some brilliant journalists working there. This lapse is absolutely an abhorrent, though. Absolutely. As with the Diane Abbott letter as well, there needs to be some serious questions there, but I do think it's a great paper stuff with great journalists. Why are none of those great journalists on Twitter doing what they normally do

when a newspaper commits an outrageous act of anti-Semitism or racism? That's expressed their indignant, personal, wounded fury? That is shocking to me. You would expect somebody to break ranks, because you know working with a news organisation, often we're hamstrung by what we can and can't say on social. media and what the bosses want to say or not. But journalists need to have inquiring minds.

Why aren't they speaking out against this? It has been not as loud as you would hope from... Loud. It's been absolutely silent. I mean, Richard, there's a rank hypocrisy. Never mind the offence of the cartoon. Now, I know Martin Rosen. And he's a brilliantly talented cartoonist.

But this was... Immediately, I saw it. I was like, what the hell have they done? Because it followed, also followed the Diane Abbott thing in the Guardian and sister baby. How could one media group get it so badly wrong in the space of about eight days? The first one was pretty unforgivable. But I think this is actually as bad or worse.

And how the editor is, frankly, still in the job. Because as you said, if it was any other media organization, there would be screams and howls of condemnation saying resign, resign here. If that happened here, we'd all be asked to resign. Jonathan, you've worked in the media a long time. You're one of the top talent representatives. management guys, I know, you're Jewish. What did you think of this?

I mean, this is now, first Diane Abbott and now this, both of the same media group, and it's the media group that leads the woke stuff, the one that leads the charge against they were so guilt-ridden ashamed by the discovery that hundreds of years ago they're found and may have employed slaves. They paid 10 million, I think it is, to ease their guilt in reparations and so on. How can they keep being so blind about anti-Semitism? Is it the same reason Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour, party were so blind is actually maybe quite a few of them are anti-semitic.

Well, I think clearly they might say they're not anti-Semitic, but there must be a degree of anti-Semitism, certainly subconscious anti-Semitism, because how can you let, how can one week you be saying Jews in the Holocaust is the same as a redhead being picked on at school, six million Jews, gypsies, travellers and a redder being picked on on teased. I'm not defending redheads being picked on teased, but you can't even make no comparison. And now, and now, and now, If it was a black person, there would be rape, race, crime, prosecutions possibly. The others would have gone by now. And the fact that people even think it's okay.

I'm hoping that come the working week starting tomorrow, things will actually happen. Because talk's easy over a busy weekend. Well, the Guardian loves accountability and everybody else. Where is the accountability here, Piers? I mean, come on. There has to be some. Someone has to go. It can't keep carrying on like this.

Week after week. Oh, we're so sorry. We're so sorry. And where's people like Garolinaika? Quite happy to say that the government shouldn't appoint a chairman to BBC. Where's he on this? People do not view anti-Semitism like they view racism. That's the fundamental issue.

Which is staggering because six million Jewish people were murdered in a holocaust simply because they were Jewish. A more glaring example of racism, it would be impossible to find. Do you think that the nation needs a renewal of education or something like that because it just seems like mass-scale ignorance on the part of a lot of these meetings? organisations that are doing this at the moment. They didn't realise the cartoonist. I didn't know this was an anti-Semitic.

It's not Maskell. It's one media organisation, the Guardian Media Group. They're incompetent, they're anti-Semitic, someone needs to be held to account at the top. OK, look, let's move to something else, which I found in a very different way, very unsavory. And it's Leeds United Football Club, who had a nightmare game at the weekend, they got stuffed.

And there were a group of people waiting as they left the hotel where they'd been staying for this game, including a young kid. in a lead shirt. Look what happened here. Let's just watch a bit of this. One by one, these players, you've already disgraced themselves on the pitch. Totally ignore this kid. Headphones in, marching past or actually diverting to avoid him. A little boy, I've been that kid when I was young.

And my little asshole shirt waiting for Frank McClain Tulk and Bob Wilson. It would have been unthinkable when I was that boy's age, 1972, three, right, when I was eight or nine, if I was that kid, for these players to have done that then, unthinkable, what has happened to these footballers? And we saw, by the way, I'm not going to spare my own team. We saw the same thing with Arsenal players about two weeks ago. Similar kind of scenario with a young girl, right? Here, where, again, they all came and signed her, saying, not one of them engaged eye contact, not one of them talked to her, even said hello. And she kept looking up, like, I've got a daughter, desperately wanting.

one of them to just show some kind of interest. And they've all got their earphones in and they all just marched on again. Now, apparently in both cases, there were other times in the day when they did, whatever. These videos show what they show, Richard. What happened to basic respect for fans? A decency.

I think it shows they're out of touch. I think it shows they're elitist. But most of all, where's their passion for their club and their supporters who actually drive everything, who motivate everything? That's part of the passion. You can have passion on the pitch, but where's the passion for the club? Jonathan, you've repped a lot of big stars. If you saw one of them treating fans like that, what would you say to them?

I'd pull them up on it immediately and remind them they're only there because of their fans. Piers, I hate to praise you, but I see you out and about. People come up. Being mobbed. Yeah, I mean, it's relentless. But the truth is, you always give time to people want to say hello to you. Always. You know why? When I was a kid, my brother, Jeremy, who's a British Army officer still very recently, just retired. We used to go down to Sussex County Cookie Ground, and we go every home game, get on my train, mom would drop us off, we go on the train, and we would collect autographs for years. We used to collect albums full of things. And we can remember to this day the ones who treated us like dirt. They are mentally scarred into our minds. And I always vowed, if I ever got to be famous, I would always sign every autograph I was asked, pose for every picture, and never be the

ones who left me and my brother, we can remember them. To this date, 50 years later, the ones who treated us like dirt. Rosanna, if you forget about your fans, I'm not sure why you're in any game, football, entertainment, journalism, anything that brings with it a form of celebrity status. Why are you in that if you're actually going to shun your viewers, your fans, the spectators, whatever it may be? They say never meet your heroes, and I've met plenty of senior journalists who I hero worship. I know.

I mean, you're here now. I sat around the table with them. And was disappointed, quite frankly, with the way they behave. I don't know the way that went my conversation. But on this point, I've always said football isn't the beautiful game. I'm afraid that a lot of football supporters think it is. And it has because there is this attitude of behavior. You don't see rugby players doing it.

Yeah, exactly. I would think you'd see rugby players smiling, you know, signing the signatures. There is something at play here within the mindset of young footballers overpaid. The headphones in. That is so. Look at that. boy, look, it's just one of them. Just one of you.

So sad. Just at least acknowledge him. You've just let down the club, right, on the pitch. You were useless. It's the point of, it's the money. It's failure of management. It's too much money. I don't think Alex Ferguson would have put up with that.

I was going to say it's failure of management of leadership. The managers and leaders of the club should be telling these young guys how to behave. They know there's going to be a short walk. They know their fans there. It doesn't take, when you're 30, 40, 50,000 pounds a week to look your fans in the other. Let's move quickly. Google bosses have told their UK staff to stop using a lot of phrases. This is part of the woke war on our language.

Banff phrases include chubby, crazy, bonkers, which rules out at least one of my ex-girlfriend. Kill, mad, white list and dummy variable. Right? I mean, what is happening, Richard Tice? What is happening to our language? You can't call someone chubby. What if they're chubby?

You can't call someone crazy. if they're crazy and chubby. What are they're bonkers? I know people who are literally bonkers. And mad. Why can't I call them bonkers? You can and you should and we must. That's the whole point about free speech and just telling it as it is. Rosanna, are there any limits to this? Of course. This is ridiculous. But I think what will perturb you more peers, I think if you scratch the service of every single, especially listed company out there, they are all doing this type of stuff internally. And you would hope, the shareholders would hope that they are actually, you know, doing stuff for the business and focusing on that. And I think the start. as a officer spoke to on this said, you know, we're not kind of... I'm going to disagree. I actually think some of the words you missed out,

blacklist and black hole. The word black is historically negative. The word white... But white list has been banned as well. Yes, but blacklist... So we're going to ban white list and blacklist? The answer is... What list are we allowed, is that?

The answer is, I looked online, and blacklist does historically come from negativity. So I think you have to be careful. But all these things are negative. Chubby, obviously, is not a compliment. It's easy. But what is somebody... is literally chubby.

Yes, but equally, if you offend a lot of people with words like blacklist, that shall be considered. I think it's very easy for a group of white people to say those words. Once you go looking to be offended, once you go looking for potential racism or whatever it may be in these things, what the Guardian did is serious to me.

Banning words, which have been a lexicon of history, there was one in one of the Roldahl books, they banned the word, a phrase, black tractor, as if somehow that was negative. It was a black tractor. The tractor was black. It's got nothing to do with skin colour, it's to do with the colour of a tractor.

Pears, a lot of the words where black's involved do come from negative moments in history. And I think... What about whitewash? Some words do, some words... Which is what England will do to Australia this summer in the ashes, right? Are we going to have to ban that?

Is that offensive? I think you have to be careful about saying all words... I think once you go down this slippery slope, it's all over. Every word becomes offensive to somebody. To somebody. Hang on, they're probably, I don't know how many billions of blacks there are in the world. There's a lot of people to offend.

That's not somebody. Man hours has been banned. Man hours. You know why? Sexist. That's not racist. We'll end up not talking at all, and that's a terrible place. Imagine Neil Armstrong on the moon if it happened today, right?

One small step for man. Oops, sorry. Persons. One giant leap for, oh no. Person kind. Is that the wall we want to live in? Pip Pierce, you're right about your point on where. But I do think you have to be careful on some words because a lot of people get offended and you have no right.

You know what? You know what? They're all entitled to be offended and I've entitled to ignore them. As you do. And I do. Thank you, Pack. Good to see you all. And since the next, the National Treasure sparkles in a week. It's all about the crown jewels. World-class singer Catherine Jenkins joins me with a very exciting announcement about what she's going to be doing tonight on this show. And every night of Coronation League. That's after the break. Welcome back to Pierce Morgan House. My next guest is The Lungs of the Nation. Love that phrase.

And a firm favourite of our royal family, Catherine Jenkins, performed regularly for the late Queen, most recently added Jubilee celebrations at Windsor Castle last summer. She's a national treasure in her own right. If you don't believe me, just ask her, she'll soon tell you. She's the new Dame Vera Lim, with the unique ability to bring people together in patriotic further. I couldn't think of anyone better to perform on my show

not just tonight at the end of our interview, but Catherine's agreed to sing every night. In fact, she recorded them all this afternoon in the studio, will perform at the end of every show for the rest of the week leading up to the coronation, ending in a rousing rendition of God Save the King. Catherine, thank you. For bringing your golden sparkled dust to the show.

And I believe it's the first musical guest you've ever had. You are the first person to sing in our studio, yeah. How do you film? Obviously, the greatest honour of your life. Greatest honour. I've known you a long time, but you've also known the Royals a long time. What does this week mean to you? Well, I think, you know, it's a huge iconic moment.

You know, it's the first coronation of my lifetime. We haven't had one for 70 years. As you said, I've sung and have met the king many times through our sort of shared charity work. He presented me with my OBE Award, which is a really special... What are you say to you? I think at the time, I'm... I was running the marathon, so we talked about my training. That must have been interesting.

Well, that's the thing with him. He's always so informed. Last time I saw him, it was at ITV three or four years ago, and he just came down the line. He was saying hello to Susanna Reed and all these people. And he got to me and he went, are you still around? He is really funny. But then he had a good laugh about Donald Trump.

Yeah, he would have to know all about my interview with Trump. I've always found him very engaging, always got a ready quip. at hand and probably the longest apprenticeship for any job in history, right? I mean, he's been waiting decades to do this. Absolutely. And I think, you know, for those of us who have met him with the different charity things, for example, I worked with the British Forces Foundation. You know, you can see that he is, as I said, informed but really passionate about those things. I think he wants to do good in the world. And I think he has been doing a lot of good, you know, with sustainability.

and environmental issues, conservation, all of those things he cares about and I care about. And so that makes me really happy to see. The thing is it's a bit like you following, I don't know, Barbara Streisand in Vegas, right, in the same theatre, isn't it? In the sense that he's following the greatest, right? The greatest monarch that's ever been, in my estimation, his own mother. And he had to follow, you know, succeed, if you like, after she had died. I mean, that's an amazing thing to think about, that it was the loss of his mother that

made him king on a human level so difficult to do this and it's got the whole world watching him yeah but i think that's you know that's actually a positive is that he has uh learned you know from her and as you said you know she was an amazing monarch well you were two amazing things with her i mean you had a lot actually you you performed before the queen at the royal british lesion festival of remembrance of albert hall amazing um you then sang the national anthem of the queen of the some Derby, the big horse race, for her Diamond Jubilee weekend. You were chosen to sing at the Queen's 90th birthday in Windsor.

You then performed at the Platinum Jubilee event at Windsor Castle. That was the last time you sang for the Queen, but also the last time you saw the Queen, and she gave a little wave if she went. It was such an emotional moment. The whole audience were just so thrilled that she had been able to attend the event. Well, we've got a clip of you singing, I think, from the events. Let's take a little look at that.

God, you've got a pair of pipes on you, haven't here? Wow. But that was, at the end of the concert, she, her majesty drove around and sort of gave everybody a little wave. As she left, and she pulled right in front of the stage, and she sort of went, oh, hello, Catherine, and I genuinely sort of welled up. I thought it was such a lovely... Amazing moment.

Yeah, it really, really was, very special, but that was the last time that I saw her, sadly. But I'm so grateful for the honour. for the honour of being able to sing for her at the different... Well, you had another amazing honour because when the Queen sadly died, you were performing a little event down in Sussex, I think, or recording down there,

and you got a phone call to tell you this terrible news. But unlike the rest of the country who could sort of mourn, you were asked, look, it's the BBC, and we want somebody to record the first version of God Save the King. What an amazing responsibility to be asked to do that. Yeah, I was in a very small... beautiful rule of church, as you said, with microphones in front of me.

And we get the call to say, we would like to play this on the BBC in the next hour. Is it possible that you can record it? And it felt like one of those things like this was meant to happen. Here I am. I could have been anywhere, but I'm standing in a place with a beautiful sound and microphones. So, yeah, we actually stopped what we were recording. We set a prayer, sort of, because it felt strange to then sing the new words. and I had to think about the new words,

having always sung it with God save the Queen. And we all had a little prayer and prayed for, you know, the new reign and for her. Did you find that emotional doing that? Yeah, it was really emotional. And it was one of those things. Because I welled up when I heard the Queen had died. I mean, genuinely, I really felt that. Yeah.

I think we all did that kind of end of this connection, which we'd all had our entire lives. Yeah, absolutely. And to sort of sing it, you know, in that moment, when you are feeling so emotional. But, you know, something clicked in and I sang it in one take. One take. But it was interesting because, you know, everybody who's so used to seeing performances and whatever,

the minute we went to record it for the very first time, you know, everybody's camera phones went up and you thought, oh, yeah, this is historical. This is the first time to ever sing these words. So it was a huge honour. Did you hear from the king after that? I have not seen him at anything yet, but I look forward to. You will do. And have you met Camilla? I have. I have. I love Camilla.

So do I. We're from neighbouring villages in East Sussex. And we always joke about, yeah, she's from Plumpton. I'm a Newick boy. We're about a mile apart. And she grew up there with her family. I grew up with mine there. And she's got that kind of earthy, southern England, local village spirit about it.

You know, down to earth, no nonsense. We've got a picture of you and her there. That's the very first time I met her. And we sort of hit it off. I thought she was great. I sang a couple of years ago at one of her charity events. I've got her rhino on my wall. Oh.

Yeah. I think she told me I'm the only person who owns a private watercolor by the woman about to be queen. Really? I bought it in a charity auction. She gave it to the Daily Mirror's charity auction. We bought it in a charity auction. And it's a beautiful picture of a rhino in the bush. And she's signed it and it's on my wall.

That's amazing. And every time I see it, she opened, her opening line is normally, Hi, Pearce, how's my rhino? Which always makes everyone's eyebrows go up. But I think she's great. And what I really like about it, she comes from that old school of royal duty, which is never complain, never explain,

and rarely be heard speaking in public. Three sentences you could not imagine being regurgitated by people in Montecito, for example. I'm not trying to get you in trouble. He says trying to get you in trouble, trying to get you in trouble. Move it on, Pearce. Have you ever been invited to California to sing for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

And I hope if you were, you'd say no, would you? Move it on, Peter. We are actually moving on, which is a commercial break. I'll let Catherine sweat for a few minutes and see if she'll answer that question after the break. All from Catherine Jenkins in a moment. Plus, she's going to sing for us. And that is worth definitely hearing. You'll definitely do that.

We're back with Peers Morgan and our sense. So we're in celebration mode for the coronation coming on. on Saturday. Catherine Jenkins is still with me. You just told me an amazing thing in the brain that you are in New York at the end of this week. What are you doing on Friday? I'm going to be helping to switch the Empire State Building

into red, white and blue for you. That's unbelievable. I know. How fun is that? Did you ever think as a little girl growing up in Wales, one day you'd be turning on the Empire State building? Not at all. I think it's just going to be a really lovely moment to start all of the celebration.

So I think are happening across America for Brits to get involved and celebrate even if they're not at home. Now, the other thing is you very kindly gave me this as well, which you didn't ask me to promote, but I like it because it's a bottle of gin and hey, I like gin. This is your new venture, gin. So you're going into that whole sort of brandolina thing of they were the rosé and then Beckham with his whiskey and they've all got their thing around, George Clooney and Tequila. Right. This is the Jenko. What is it, Jenkins? Catherine Jenkins.

Is that it? It's called Signet. Yeah. It's made six miles down the road from where I grew up in Wales. I know it wasn't like, it wasn't something I... Well, sell it to me. Come on. What does it taste like? Well, I love gin. I come from a family of... Oh, I've seen you knock it back.

And I wanted to create something that was like a really high quality ultra-premium gin with like all of the ingredients that I love. So for this one, this is our Signet 22 that's got Manuka Honey in it. Well, you did me a massive favour. Why? So I was doing an audio book. And if you've ever done them, they are hell on earth. You get put in a little booth eight hours a day for days on end.

I had to do four days. And after three days, my voice had gone. You just talk for eight hours a day. Even by my standards, talking about myself, this was too much. My body packed in. And so I messaged Catherine and she said, I'm sending the cavalry. Did you know, she turned up at my house. I mean, it's a bit stalkerish, obviously.

turned up on my house 25 minutes later and left throat tea and manuka honey. And you said, do that and also sip water all the time, right? Sit water. And my voice came back. Yeah, so you know what? It's the same thing. Drink the gin.

But if I known that was the option, it would have made the audio book a lot more listenable. Well, you know, the other option whenever you get a sore throat peers is to go on vocal rest, but I'm not sure if that's possible. I couldn't do permanent vocal rest. Where do you get these pipes from? When I listen to you sing, even now, it is staggering. The power of your voice.

Where did that come from? I don't know. When did you first let loose and think, oh my God. Well, when I was four, I sang in public for the first time. You sang like that when you were four? No, but I remember there being a reaction to it. And I was always singing because I loved it. I was never thinking about, or one day I'd like to do this, this, and this.

It was just a genuine passion. And do you think you're now a national treasure or is this little bit of work to do? No. Does anybody think that? I do, actually. I think you're, I do think you're the new Viral Inn. You get wheeled out for all the big events, looking lovely, and you sing beautifully, and everyone likes you. I'm very proud of where I come from, and I try whenever I'm... Well, you're going to sing for us every night.

Yeah. Every night. Tonight you're going to sing Royal Britannia. Well, Catherine Jenkins, thank you. And Catherine Jenkins, take it away!