Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers On Prince Harry's Failed Bid For Paid Protection

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Piers delivers his latest monologue on Prince Harry's failed court bid to have his security for his visits to the UK funded by the taxpayer before debating the latest royal news with h Tessa Dunlop, Sarah Hewson and Michael Cole. With a series of health problems, a recent tragic death and Prince William pulling out of his godfather's funeral, is the monarchy in crisis? YouTube: @PiersMorganUncensored X: @PiersUncensored TikTok: @piersmorganuncensored Insta: @piersmorganuncensored Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was always a simple question of common sense for me, should a non-working member of the royal family who carries out zero public duties for this country and has no obligations to the British people and no formal links whatsoever to the work of the monarchy received the same taxpayer-funded protections as the rest of his family who do all that? The answer, self-evidently, I would have thought, is no.

But Prince Harry disagreed, as he often does, with almost everyone about everything. He dragged the British government into court of his decision to downgrade his taxpayer-funded personal security detail for his increasingly rare visits to the UK. Well, today the High Court refuses application for judicial review. In other words, Harry has lost his case. Regardless of what you may think about him personally,

I think I've made my views pretty clear, this is demonstrably the right decision. The artist formerly known as Prince Harry is at this point a kind of B, maybe C-list celebrity in Los Angeles. He lives in California, Montecito, spends a lot of his time in LA. He works on the personal causes he supports. He writes books and makes movies about how awful the royal family is and how dreadful and prison camp like the monarchy is and blah, blah, blah. He makes a lot of money trashing his family. In his most recent interview, he made it perfectly clear,

his focus is elsewhere. I've got other trips planned that would take me through the UK or back to the UK. So, you know, I'll stop it and see my family as much as they can. Think about becoming a citizen? I have considered it, yeah? Of course he has. Yeah, of course. He loves a life in America. And you know what? Good luck to you, mate. Because here's the deal. If you become a US citizen, you have to give up all your titles.

They don't allow them in America for their citizens. So this is a win-win for everybody. Go and be an American and just exist as you, Harry. See how you get on. No one's saying that he shouldn't be allowed any kind of security on these occasional time-permitting trips to his former homeland. He gets it. We saw it when he came recently. The issues whether you and I should have to pay for it on a full-time basis.

His lawyers claimed he was singled out and treated less favourably by the Home Office and the court disagreed. But why shouldn't he be singled out? He's only senior member of the royal family who quit the monarchy and the country. The Duke's lawyers also complained that Al-Qaeda issued death threats after he boasted in his own book by the number of Taliban fighters he killed in Afghanistan, which is precisely what everybody, including me, said what happen at the time when he put that in his book. It was stupid and reckless and endangered him and his family. Why should we pick up the cost of that recklessness? Well, last year, Prince Harry lost a

separate legal bid for permission to pay for police protection in the UK. Again, the verdict was clear. He's not a working royal. As the Queen said, you can't be half in, half out. The British police are not guns for hire for a renegade royal living in California whenever he fancies who've hoving them up. After four years of trashing his family and trashing Britain, Harry is now finding out the hard way that you can't have your royal cake and eat it. If you go, you go. And frankly, this is one less problem for a royal family has morbid enough on its plate right now. King Charles is fighting cancer, with all public duties postponed. Mr. Catherine is recovering from abdominal surgery and will be absent

until at least Easter. Yesterday, Buckingham Palace announced a very sad news that Thomas Kingston, The husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's daughter, there'd be Gabriela at Windsor, has died. Prince William pulled out of a memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, with just 45 minutes to go, despite accepting an offer to read a lesson at the service for unspecified personal reasons. That is also pretty unprecedented,

and we don't know what those personal circumstances were. Disgraced Prince Andrew, meanwhile, seized into the vacuum and stepped back in what increasingly looked like, like a guy who wants to lead the family again. Is that right after all he's been through? She's somebody who's paid millions of dollars to a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her now be leading the family into big royal events like that?

Many think not. William's absence was reportedly nothing to do with the death of Thomas Kingston. But it is reasonable, isn't it, to ask, what is going on here? The Royals are vaunting a new era of transparency, the decision to talk openly about the sickness of the king when Princess of Wales is laudable,

but these are troubled times for the monarchy, worrying times for the monarchy, and many people are rightly concerned. A show of strength and reassurance from our future king may be sorely needed. Well, for more, I'm joined by the Royal Historian and author Tessa Dunlop, the Royal editor Sarah Houston,

and the former BBC Royal correspondent Michael Cole. Well, look, there's so much to look at here. Sarah, let me start with you. You're a royal editor. I mean, there's about four or five different stories. blazing away in the last 24 hours alone, which in itself says to me we're in a very tricky period for the monarchy,

very tricky. You know, you've got senior players who have been incapacitated. Charles's cancer is a serious issue. Catherine, we don't really know what happened to her, but we do know, we haven't seen her now in several months, and we won't for several more months. William, mysteriously disappearing

right on the, just before this memorial service started for his own godfather, and we don't know why. Andrew, you know, coming forward and looking like he wants to run the show. And then you have, of course, Harry and his latest legal action, which is lost on this occasion. In the totality, are you sharing my concern about how fragile this makes everything look? Yes, and it makes everyone feel pretty jittery and concerned, doesn't it? And that's why I think there was so much attention paid to the fact that Prince William had pulled out at the last minute yesterday, because there is a vacuum, as you've described it,

and we want to see our senior members of the role of them. We don't. It is a mystery. It really is a mystery. Or should it be a mystery? They are entitled to privacy, and they are entitled to a personal life, away from the public duties. But I think the palace have to understand

that when you've got the king away from public duties with cancer, when you've got the Princess of Wales, off duties for, you know, several months because of her abdominal surgery. And then you get a last-minute cancellation from Prince William. My family, WhatsApp. Can't even go just up the road to St George's Chapel. They're all there. For his Godfather, where he's doing a reading, that poses a lot.

It ran a lot of alarm bells to me. I mean, my family WhatsApp chat, like I imagine, most family WhatsApp chats in the country, for those who like the Royal Family, has blown up with all sorts of crazy conspiracies. theories that are sweeping the internet. And that is the problem. I think they have to actually go down the more transparent road. They've been treading cautiously down and actually say, okay, here's the deal.

This is what happened. It's a delicate balance, isn't it? Once you open up, as they have done, then people want more and more information. What we have been told is that the Princess of Wales is doing well, so that's reassuring. They didn't directly say it wasn't anything to do with her, but didn't give us any more information.

did say it wasn't to do with the death of Thomas Kingston as well. And he's expected back on duty. That is really, really sad. Absolute tragedy. He's 45 years old, apparently totally physically fit. He was seen laughing and joking. He'd been seen last week at the National Gallery. They were together on Valentine's Day.

They were photographed together less than five years since they had that beautiful, big wedding in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. And then we see Prince and Princess Michael of Kent sitting there in the congregation yesterday. which actually made, to me, it made Williams' absence all the more glaring, that Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, this is their son-in-law who had just died, actually did still go and pay their respects. It makes you wonder, well, what was going on in William's life

that is perhaps even more important. And, of course, then, the big picture, in the absence of William being there, the Queen driven to St George's Chapel, we had the Royals walking down the hill, and Andrew, the disgraced Duke of York, is there leading the pack, stepping into that vacuum with great joy. Right. So let's bring in, Tess, I can tell, chomping at the bit,

is again, isn't it? Let's talk, first of all, about Andrews, because I probably agree with you about this. Well, I mean, he's the turd that won't flush. And one of the reasons that he's so visible and we can't cover him up with some Andrex is because there isn't much fluffy cushioning available in the role family. And I've got to say, I'm surprised by your level of incredulity. We don't know precisely what the circumstances around Williams' absentee.

We do know that he's had some issues around commitment to work in the past. We also know that the right-wing press, in which I include you, by the way, peers. You think I'm right-wing? I think you posture on the right. I was literally edited on the daily mirror. Yes, well, nowadays you work for the sun and for Murdoch, so you're a different creature. And you've parked your tag. It doesn't make you automatically right-wing.

Not some left-wing people, whatever room of Murdoch. For the hugely pro-monarchy press. Yeah, it doesn't make me right-wing. Okay, let's leave the right-bed. particular slur, only right-wing people like the monarchy. It's nonsense. No, I'm not saying that, Piers. I just think you are further right of centre than you believe you are. You're quite out of touch. Actually, you know what it is? I'll tell you, honestly on that point, the woke left have gone so nuts. I do not recognise that, what used to be, the kind of leanings I had as a liberal.

They're not liberals. They've actually become a bunch of fascists. So yeah, by that criteria, I am more right-wing than they are. Because they're looms. Centerist dad who's pro-world. But let's talk about Andrew. No, I want to get back to... Back to Andrew. I want to get back to why Andrew is front and center. Because actually, we've lost control of William.

Whether he had a valid reason or not for turning up at the chapel... We're not questioning it. We're not... This is Godfather. He was actually reading a lesson at the memorial. I hear that. But he can do what he likes because Harry's left, that healthy competition that existed between the siblings,

between the rival camps. That's gone. and you guys have not criticised one step that any of them have made with the exception of the Australian football final, which, by the way, was predictable. You have not criticised one step. Complete nonsense.

He's untouchable. No, no, no. William has been criticised repeatedly, as has Catherine. No. Many, many times it's complete fantasy. Let me bring in Michael Cole. I think he's been shaking his head furiously at that claim. I mean, the idea that William has been spared criticism by the media

It's for the birds. Good evening, Piers, good evening, ladies. I think I would like to start by collectively, on all our behalf, expressing condolences to Lady Gabriela. Yes. Because she is an utterly charming girl. I can call her that because I'm twice her age. I met her at Prince Michael's birthday party in 2002.

She was acting as the hostess, and she put me and everybody else at their ease. and she was a lovely person. Her dashing husband was there. And you know, they've only been married four years. They were married at St George's Chapel a year after your favorite people, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,

and they also had their reception at Frogmore House. Let us say it was a, shall we say, lower key, much more tasteful on Hollywood reception. And it's a great tragedy that she finds her, at the age of 40, a widow. Of course, it's now down to the inquest.

It's now down to the coroner. But it is another straw in the wind, and it's something on a day of bad news for the royal family. It was something you didn't want to hear at the end of the day. I wouldn't say, and we were talking about this, is it a crisis? It isn't a full-blown crisis, but it has the makings of one. And I think I and maybe you, all of us,

We thought at the time on 17th of January when I was with you, and first of all, it was announced that Kate, the Princess of Wales, was going into the London Clinic, and then 90 minutes later that the King was going to have treatment for an enlarged prostate. I thought Buckingham Palace had actually learned a few things, and Kensington Palace, and there were being more candid or as candid as they could be. And I think in the case of this no-show by Prince William yesterday, which was, if not unprecedented, extremely unusual.

I can never remember anything quite like that, where a senior member of the royal family is slated to actually make an address at a former King's memorial service in this country with royals coming in from all over the world, they pull out with 45 minutes to go, and we don't know why. Well, he's a gentleman, so he did ring Constantine's widow

and Prince Pavlos, who is there, to tell them this was happening. And I'm sure that they made allowances and they didn't take it ill. But it is extraordinary. And I think a little bit of candor here because the worst thing that can happen in a situation like this

is that rumours start. Yeah. And if rumours... Which they are. Well, of course they are. And they're all over the internet, social media and so on and so forth. So I think they've missed a trick.

I felt the people at KP were getting their act together and people who are in daily contact with them, like the two people sitting next to you, will bear that out or not. And I think they need to be a little bit more candid because we need to... On a bigger picture, what does it say when you see the Royals going into that memorial service,

there's no Charles, there's no Kate, there's no William, and you see Andrew leading the royal family in a man who many people in this country feel is completely disgraced? I mean, that's where the fragility of the firm, especially post the deaths of Prince Philip and the Queen, that the fragility of the firm is laid bare, isn't it? Fewer and fewer royal occasions at which the Duke of York and indeed Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York,

are welcome. This is one of the ones where they could show their faces and be welcome, because although it was a royal occasion, also a family occasion, almost everybody, almost everybody in among the royals there. And do bear in mind, the king of Spain was there, the Queen of Spain was there. And, and, and, I want to, listen, I think we can all agree. It's very odd what went down yesterday. Can we also agree, actually, that in terms of the optics, I mean, the Queen of Spain looking fabulous alongside Philippe, that glorious extended ex-formally Greek royal family, again, looking marvellous.

our royals, those that did turn up pretty down at heel, not helped by Andrew. And all I'm saying is all your focus and the press's focus has been down on Harry, thumping Harry, banging on about a subject. But actually, we need to focus on our royal. All right. All right. Let's come to your favourite person who today has lost a high court challenge because he wants to have, once again, is royal cake and eat it. He wants to have armed British police to guard him all the time when he's over here. And I say, why? Why should the British taxpayer be guarding this goon? Honestly, why?

Because just imagine the optics if Harry and Meghan, well within his rights, by the way, also a family member. She's never coming back in. Okay, Harry had been at St George's Chapel yesterday. Actually, if we made it easier for him, we would win back one of our key assets. He gets protection when he attends a royal event. He just wants it all the time when he's in the country.

Harry wants a prince, always a prince. His birthright. He was born into a hereditary royal family. He had no choice on him. He has made hundreds of millions trashing his family. He can easily... Wait a minute. Let me finish.

He can easily afford his own security. And to actually put, by the way, in his plea to the court, which was, as we say, he lost the case. But to put... And he's appealing it, apparently, of course. But he put in there, one of the reasons he wanted it was because Al-Qaeda had issued some threats over what he wrote in his book. Well, he himself boasted of killing 25 Taliban. I mean, a more reckless, stupid thing he couldn't have done.

And then he gets inevitably... some threats from the people who he's boasting about killing, and then we're supposed to pick up the bill for protecting it. You know, you've flown pretty close to the wind legally to this year, Piers. And I think what we should do is marvel that Harry didn't detonate more bombs in his memory. Really? Yeah, I genuinely mean that. More?

I think the fuss that's been made, a little bit of sniping about his stepmother. Who doesn't snipe about their stepmother? And a go at William, he could have written so much more about his brother. Oh, please. And subsequently, he's not said anything. And he's turned up and he's done his service. Like he said, your ability to defend him, come what may. Actually, it's actually, you trigger me because you're so black and white.

It's actually impressive. Well, you're so are you. Sarah, you've been listening patiently. I don't know you don't want to get into a slanging match about any of it. He doesn't shout. Because you like some water. You're a woman of impeccable manners. To shout.

On the Harry thing, though, this is a, he's lost the case. Yeah. He's lost part of another case against one of the newspapers. He's got more newspaper cases coming. He also won against the mirror group. Your ex-bosses. He won partially against him. He won partially against the mirror.

Well done, Harry. Okay, good for him. He likes to, look, as I said at the time, this is a guy who is waging war against the media for being intrusive into the private lives of the royal family whilst himself making hundreds of millions of dollars intruding into the private lives of the royal family. I think it's stinking hypocrisy.

And I can tell you, the British public, agree with me. You're not helping the role family. You're not helping by slay him off all the time. What's interesting, Piers, I've been talking about this all day today since the decision. And actually, I think there's a real split. in terms of what people think about this. There are a lot of people who've been phoning in saying, I don't like what Harry's done.

I don't like the fact that he and Megan have slagged off the Royal Family. But actually, I don't think we should deny him security. I mean, the fact is he's not being denied security. No. He's just not getting the same level of security that he had when he was a working member of the Royal Family. I mean, look, you can argue that he was born into the Royal Family.

He didn't have any choice on that. He is the King's son. The others all do work. And the argument made, The others do duties, hundreds of duties a year. He's only duties to his back balance. The air argument, what would it have meant for our reputation as a country, were an attack allowed to be happened on this sort?

He talked about that. Hang on, hang on, he talked about this in the court case. He said that he was, imagine about the damage to the reputation of Britain if something that would happen to him. What about the damage to the reputation of Britain? He has already caused with his endless bomb throwing about the royal family. Michael Cole. Yeah, from the outset, this was a misconceived action by the Prince of Litigation

because he does get police protection. When he came here for the 25-hour flying visit, there were two blacked-out undercover range rovers. He was in the front one, and the back was wall-to-wall with armed coppers in the back, close protection officers, as they're called. And when he went to see the king, they were the king. there and when he went back to Heathrow the next day. So he gets police protection and it's up to a committee to decide the level of threat against him. And that is completely right and proper.

And as a taxpayer, I don't want to pay for his protection if he's not in this country, not doing the job. But when he comes with his wife and with his children, he will get the appropriate level of protection without any doubt. He will be assessed. He will be assessed. He wants. He wants. They've already said they will assess it as they would do a Hollywood star, which is, let's be honest, it's what these two are now. They will be assessed in the same way if there's a specific threat when they're coming to this country, they will get appropriate protection. Actually, I believe there's more of a threat to Harry. The way in which he's become embroiled in the cultural wars, partly by hate, driven on platforms like this, incidentally against him. But I'm interested that Michael Cole has, yes, oh, you're soliloquy at the top of the show, Bill.

What about his hate? It was bilious. What about his hate? He's not directing his hate. What about his bilious hate towards his family and the monarchy? Relatively tame, I had to really look for it. I want to go back to Michael Cole's point about the taxpayers and that we pay for royal security.

Actually, do you know Michael Cole how much we pay for our royal security bill? You don't know, do you? Well, if you want to consult me privately, I'll tell you how much I have to pay in tax. And I know that some of that goes into playing for the Montreal police. Listen, he tried to talk. No, it's because they've refused Freedom of Information Act, they haven't answered. We have no idea how much Royal Security costs.

I can tell you that they provide security for all those palaces, all those extra palaces, for the likes of Eugenie's year off where she had security protection officers. And yet at the same time, we're lampooning Harry because he no longer works. When we know she was the most famous and therefore most endangered member of the royal family. He's not the most endangered member of the Royal Family. It's complete nonsense. Actually, yes.

Complete nonsense. Round the clock security. three teams, three shifts of big burly men looking after them. That costs an offer of money. You'll remember that when they scooted to British Columbia to Canada, the federal government in Ottawa soon got fed up with providing very expensive security. Why should they?

And they decamped immediately to California, which may have been mega's intention all along. And there on their hilltop camelot, and they have to pay for their own security. We presume that, and that's one of their very wealthy... By the way, what's he coming back for? Nobody wants to see him anyway. None of his family want to see him.

Actually, that's not true. King Charles does want recognition. King Charles gave him 33 minutes after he flew 6,000 miles. It was a day off a cancer diagnosis. His schedule was already in the window. Because I suspect most of the palace, like, here he goes again, making it all about him, right?

It's what he does. And by the way, is he got a wire? Is this for his next book? Oh, stop it. I know. How mad that I would... You actually don't want the royal family to have a reconciliation. You didn't know.

Not with him, no. Would you agree with me, Sarah? Actually appears exacerbated the division. By the way. You don't have to shout. I'm here, Tessa. I agree with you. I don't.

They should just absolutely cut them off. Sarah, let me ask you on a more seriously. William is, we're told, like you to do some engagements later in the week. And they are going ahead. Right. So what can we read into what has happened with him, though? I don't think it's an easy decision to make to pull out of an event.

Should we be told? yesterday. The Palace press office can only tell us what the principles allow. He has made the decision that he's going to ferociously guard whatever it was going on, then they haven't got any option in this. But it is difficult. And again, difficult optics yesterday, the optics of Andrew walking down. If only they'd got Princess Anne to lead them down, we wouldn't be talking about this. With the great Tim Lawrence next to, who's an absolutely magnificent individual. This question of should they or shouldn't they,

we've got absolutely no control over what Prince William decides to do. He's untouchable peers. They are entitled to privacy, though. If it's something to do with one of the children, for example, I think we could all understand. And by the way, what's the total number of things that William has said in retaliation to the constant attacks on him, his wife, his dad, his stepmom, zero in public.

Not a word. One thing he said, we are not a racist family. You know why? Because they're not. There's been no evidence to suggest that they are. was an ugly smear by two people intent on destroying the family, destroying the monarchy and lining their pockets. And that's why they are disgraced.

Redemption and forgiveness is what our family has to be evadedness. You're entitled to your opinion even when it's so obviously wrong. Anyway, lovely to see you, Tessa. Great to see you, Sarah. Busy day for you. Thank you to sparing us in time. Michael Cole, always a privilege to have you, the great man. Thank you very much.