BOOKS PULPED ..ROYAL BOMBSHELL & MARKLES EXPLOSION #royaL #meghan #news

0:04 Welcome back chums as ever and thank you so much for joining me once again. I know I often say this here in our show but what a busy week it has been in the land of royalty. You know, it's strange, isn't it, to think because you kind of think at this normal point when I first started doing this job, there were periods [snorts] that really, really calmed down. And each and every day now, the new cycle is faster and faster than ever. By the way, I don't know if you saw this particular story. I always love these stories and I love to share them with you because I kind of wonder why this is allowed to happen. But then when I thought about it, I thought, "Well, it makes it a perfect sense because why on earth then would you need to keep hold of it?" This is yet another one of the late Queen Elizabeth's cars. Doesn't it look marvelous, right? I mean, you know, if you had the money. And I often think,

0:50 wouldn't it be amazing to be sitting in there and probably going over the conversations, whether the car had to take her to meet a world leader or a spectacular royal event or perhaps a night out at the theater. Either way, it always seems quite sad when history's sold off. But of course, in order to make history, we have to move history on. And this is really what's happened, in my opinion, earlier this week. Simply because the furore over Charles Spencer's book, his tomb swan song about his sister Diana, he could never have imagined the direction this was going. At the time of recording this, what's really interesting is the battle between him and the journalist Piers Morgan, who's still threatening to sue him. Well, there's a problem, as you can imagine. And the other problem is

1:36 simply this. You see, Piers Morgan was demanding that the book now be pulled off the shelves and be pulped. This is around 5 days later. What I can tell you what's going on behind the scenes at Penguin, at least, is they're riding it out and they're riding it out for one simple reason. The idea really is to see exactly if this bouncing worldwide publicity as if the previous worldwide publicity wasn't enough is enough to be able to carry on with the books because of course the problem is the books are now out in the stores. Now, it's interesting as I said I've been up and down and around in London recently and they're not exactly flying off the shelves. But being honest with you, you know, our friendship group I would say

2:22 the problem is I wouldn't pay that for a hardback. I think it's a lot of money and I think also now when you know the story and then there's this sort of underlying problem of what's true and what isn't. You mean it's all very well, you know, Charles Spencer going on TV saying he stands by the book but this is really a huge error. Of course that's not to say that the journalist Piers Morgan is fragrant free, you know what I mean. He does have something of a track record himself. But what's interesting about this is and this is the problem now where Penguin are going to have a lot of bite backs to say the least is if you look at all the interviews that Charles Spencer has undertaken, right, they've all been at Althorp and they've all been very willing to come over here. Now, there's a problem for that simply because when you look at the big news channels

3:09 like NBC, ABC, CBS, they've sent over crews which is, you know, hotels, presenters, all the crew that goes with that, makeup, stylists, you know, producers, everything. It costs a lot of money and ultimately by the time their interviews and sit-downs with Charles Spencer had hit the airwaves they were null and void because obviously this story had taken over. As I told you in our show earlier this week things are not going well behind the scenes and that's simply because now Penguin Random House clearly know they've got it wrong. But they've got it wrong on many different levels. It's not really just about whether they checked the book or not. It's really about how they marketed it because what actually turned a lot of people off ordering the

3:55 book, according to an excellent source, was the negativity surrounding the alleged stories regarding His Majesty the King, what apparently he allegedly said, and the response back. You can understand >> [snorts] >> how this becomes problematic, right? But behind the scenes as this story carries on, basically if the, you know, thing doesn't take off and suddenly the stores now are left with hundreds and hundreds of books, then 100% this book will be pulled. Of course, it'll be sent back, they'll pull it down, and they'll be recycled again, you know, saving the planet, the climate, that sort of thing, right? But your other problem is it's the stain now, isn't it? Now, for him, this is going to be very difficult because whatever book he puts out next,

4:41 a historic book or you know, the podcast that he worked on with his now wife and all of that, people are going to question every single thing. What's alarming in many people's eyes is, for instance, he claims that he only told people closest to him literally on the day of the publication, which is hard to believe when you think. You will note, of course, that nobody else in the Spencer family has come forward apart from his latest wife to support the Earl, no sisters, etc., no Prince Harry, and certainly no Prince William. The problem now that Earl Spencer's got is going to be how to convince not just the public, but the rest of the world that everything he does after this is with good intention, and of course, not

5:27 with scandal attached. The other problem that you now have is obviously moving forward, everybody's now going to want to make their own Diana documentaries and various books, and there'll be very little that he can say if even there's a doubt of question about what they're putting in the books because they simply can fire back and say, "Well, you really can't speak." You see the mess really that this book is now created, not only as an embarrassment for the British monarchy, but an embarrassment for the late Diana, Princess of Wales' memory, and more importantly for the current Earl Spencer. This has been a momentous week for all the wrong reasons. On a lighter note, though, let's share this. Thank you so much as ever, chums, for joining me for this week's latest by

6:13 royal appointment. As ever, it's lovely to have your company. Yes, it might look like it's a bit of a dark night, but it's not actually. It's still very mild. It's still very nice. And London is still basking in something of a hedonistic sort of mini heat wave. I know. When is that going to end, one wonders. I won't be doing this in a couple of weeks, will I? As I said, our royal appointment is the show for you. It's where I take a deep dive into some of the stories that truly matter to you. And more importantly, what happens now and the direction of travel and which they're going. This was the week of course that we saw La Markle deciding to share the fact to the rest of the world by her friend that, well, apparently, Britain, the United Kingdom, has missed her. The thing is, I open this out to you. I mean, it's a nice touch from her friend, Kelly, isn't it? But of course,

7:00 it's there to antagonize and to get some traction, and of course, keep the story going. Particularly in a week where Prince Harry made an absolute boo-boo on stage with the mic drop. We discussed it in great detail. And of course, stories like this from her friend, Kelly, sitting alongside a long time BFF, Marcus Anderson, are all in there to make sure that you look at something else and not the disasters that are continually unfolding. You know, chums, one of the many things that I love about our very own Catherine, the Princess of Wales, is the fact that she brings glamour. And what I like about that, as many of you know who watch my channel on a regular basis. I love the golden age of Hollywood where

7:46 people dressed up in dinner suits, white gloves, you know, whether it be fake fur stoles, it just brings some glamour. Boy, did Catherine bring some glamour in that Jenny Packham dress. Now, I don't know why I know it's called Jenny Packham dress, but you know, I do. I thought she looked terrific. I thought this is what really sells the movie. You know, Tom Cruise is no slouch. I mean, he's a lovely man, trust me. I've interviewed him many times. And he's absolutely in awe of both the Prince and Princess of Wales. It is kind of funny to watch because when you go and interview on a one-to-one, you know, you're very much sort of in the chair. You're asking the questions and you know, he's he can decide if he wants to or not. As I said, I've known him probably now over 25 years. Always very cordial, very nice to me, so you know.

8:31 But one of the things that I wanted to share with you that a lot of people do not know is really how this relationship really took off. And this is the good friendship between Catherine and Tom Cruise and William. You see, one day he was talking about his career and this is from an excellent source, right? And this was backed up by Tom to me himself. And one of the things that he mentioned was, oh, you know, about the struggles of being an actor and all that sort of stuff. And but this is long before Top Gun and all the big stuff, right? And he'd been for many auditions as we all had and we were laughing about how certain things you go for and you think, why did I think that would work or whatever, you know. Now, he actually went for an audition for Fame, the TV series, The Kids from Fame. And what was interesting about this, again, you know, you look at this sort of stuff and all of that and the movie, Fame the movie.

9:18 And you know, you've got to remember just how big that particular TV series was. Over here in the United Kingdom, it used to go out directly after Top of the Pops on a Thursday night. So, it was really clever because, you know, not only did they have albums, T-shirts, all the characters that we loved and we really fully invested in. Well, guess what? Catherine was a huge kid from Fame fat, loved it, absolutely adored it, had the albums, had the annuals apparently, and everything. And he said that was just one of the many things that they bonded over simply because she just enjoyed chatting about the normal things and what it would have happened if of course he'd have got a role in that. And I said, "Well, there you go. That's really what makes it unique. It's against everything, you know, that the royal sort of protocol and everything. You find a common ground." Of course, as

10:05 Tom said, he wasn't the only major star to audition for the likes of the Fame and all of that. Remember, Madonna also had a go. And what direction would she have gone down if she'd have become a kid from Fame? Yeah. These are the things I love to share on our channel. In a week that's been dominated by Earl Spencer and of course he's Oh, I don't know how you describe it really. It's just been a shambles in every level, isn't it? Uh if you remember at the start of last week, this is before the book came out. He sat down with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg. She's our political doyen over here on a Sunday mornings. And as I said at the time, I thought she did a good job in the period of time that she would have been allowed. Remember, Earl Spencer has

10:50 opened the ancestral home of Diana to all the world's media. You know, ABC, CBA, you know, he's allowed everybody in there. Pictured rowing across in the boat, there is no stone unturned that he would not have wanted to do in order to get some publicity. And now, a lot of people have been attacking Laura for her interview. And I wanted to set the record straight because as I said, you know, I'm here. I tell you what I find out. I've known Laura on and off for years. Always been polite and you know, we sort of see each other knocking around the corridors of Westminster and you know, Abingdon Green and all that sort of stuff. And what's interesting is, you know, she it's like everything, right, chums? You are given a finite time, but also you are told very much to steer clear of topics and conversations. So, she was as shocked as many people

11:37 when he brought up uh Harry and William, you know, and then of course he brought up Meghan and Harry and their security debacle and all of that sort of stuff. And as she said, you know, it was a thin line because which track now do you go down? But the biggest problem that she had for a lot of people was the simple matter of fact that, you know, they said, "Well, you didn't ask enough about the money, uh the fact that Earl Spencer's huge income fans, uh the fact that obviously, you know, he's going to be making or was going to be making at that particular point a colossal amount of money from Swan Song. And then there is the talk of the documentary, you know, oh yes, the follow-up paperback book, the serialization. There's a lot of money coming in on somebody that he claimed that he would never ever take advantage of. Do not forget though at

12:23 the time, sadly after Diana's passing, he was selling copies allegedly of the eulogy at the ancestral home for £25. Mhm. I'm sure all of that went to the natural charities, right? But what's interesting, you see, is that Laura, as she said, she did get the question in and he just batted it away. And the problem that you have is you've now invested the big crew, the lights, the camera, everybody's there. There's a cost now to the production company. And if he does suddenly decide to get up and walk away and won't answer any more questions, you're lumbered with all of that cost. And as she said, you know, she tried, she pushed it in. And as I said, this is the thing, chums. I'm not defending, I'm just saying this I've been in that situation. It's kind of

13:09 like if they walk off, you know, I remember interviewing the Speaker of the House of Commons. Four times he canceled that interview and we'd lugged all the equipment over from our studio down to Westminster. He didn't care. He had the position of power. Now, last scene of course, shilling for a living, trying to get Andy Burnham into power. John Bercow, I'm talking to you. You understand how this works. So, for those that say, "Didn't she get anywhere with it?" I personally feel she got as far as she could with the constraints of what Al Spencer truly was going to allow. And he would have batted it off saying, "I don't really like to talk about money." Now, though, he might have to with the ongoing litigation at the time of recording. >> show, I've been lucky enough to meet some of the real movers and shakers in

13:56 the history of our British monarchy. And, you know, some are incredibly interesting. Some, of course, you realize, uh particularly when you're interviewing them, that they are just pushing a book. And that's the thing, you know. Now, this particular man, I've shared stories about him before, uh with our chums here on our channel. And he's one of my favorites, in fact, Backstage Billy. Billy, you know, he was a lovely man, as I said, you know. And in my opinion, I would say very badly treated in the respect of, well, you know, could they have not done something very similar to the akin of what they did to Angela Kelly, you know, finding her a place to live up in Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Different times, you see. And the problem is, looking at it through a different lens, I've got to be fair now, chums. I would say that Billy probably

14:41 was a bit of a liability. Do you know what I mean? In the sense of that he loved the gossip, he loved the sort of um paraphernalia that went being with royal. By the time I'd met him, I think he'd have sort of fallen out a little bit. He realized there was no going back. He was never going to be back in those certain royal circles. You know what I mean? So, it was interesting. And I just wanted to look back and listen to some of the tapes. And I did ask him, naturally, about Charles and Diana. And he did confirm on this tape. And the reason why I'm not allowed to produce the tape is that I technically, although it was for a news channel, I'm not quite sure who owns it. You understand? So, that's your problem, you know. I've looked into that, but nobody seemingly can say, you know, without a sort of sign-off, it's a bit tricky. But Billy, as I say, always ultimately respectful

15:27 about everybody inside the monarchy. And the one thing he did confirm was the fact that Noel Charles and Diana were very much in love at the beginning. They both really tried to make it work. He, in his very camp or a sort of gay way, said, "The thing you should see, sweetie, is that This is how he spoke." He said, "You know, she was simply too young." He said, "And he was at that point very set in his ways." But he did try to bend and maneuver and all that. He said, "But ultimately, you know, it was sort of doomed simply because she was growing up as a woman, you know, finding herself, different times and everything." And as he pointed out, he was there when Charles came back to Clarence House following his very dark moment where he had to claim and pick up the deceased body of Diana. He said he's

16:14 never seen anybody so broken. Now, Billy was very honest, you know, and he was very discreet. And he said, "It was very, very clear that Charles had been heavily crying." He, you know, and he would not allow anybody to be disrespectful to Princess Diana in any way. He and I'm not just saying this, you know, this is from a man who knew the royal family well. So, when you hear these stories, particularly being bandied around now, you have to look at it and you think, "Well, these people were very much there, right?" It's a little bit like Ken Wharfe, the former protection officer of Princess Diana, who I'm lucky enough to know very well. Lovely man and could say so many things. Always respectful. He doesn't need to be respectful, you know, the job has ended. He's just part of history. They tell you

16:59 the truth and I basically believe what those people are saying. Billy in particular, he said, you know, he absolutely adored Diana and that Princess Margaret got on very well with her for a long period. He said, "But she did have her difficult moments." And And peppered it with, "But then we all do, dear, don't we? And that was the beauty about Billy. He would tell you something really revealing, finishing it off with a bit of a smile and a smirk. But of course, he truly wanted to get those stories out. You know, chums, when I've spoken to many staff members who have worked for Harry and Meghan, and as you can imagine, there have been plenty over the years, what you have to think about is their experience. And of course, you know, they're not looking for remuneration, they're wanting to get their version of events out there. Of course, many people do not want to be

17:46 notified or, you know, exposed or whatever. You can understand that. Like particularly the man who decided to quit just ahead of that fake royal tour. Remember him? You know, a good guy, you know, who obviously knew the workings, the job, et cetera. But for whatever reason we're told or he just suddenly departed because the job had finished. Really? Nobody really buys that, do they? And there lies your problem. And it's a little bit like, as I say, when you hint upon or talk about the marriage of Meghan and Harry. And the problem that you have, and this is the big issue, I think, for many people, is the fact that what you're now seeing is a sort of, um, I don't know, rebuilding, if you like, of the brand of Prince Harry. He decided, when he came over here, uh, to try and spark it all back up. For the very first time, I mean, this is kind of

18:32 shocking in many respects, he went out of his way to thank all of the people, uh, particularly people from the royal rota, uh, who were covering his Invictus Spirit Awards things. They apparently were really shocked. Of course, this is desperation corner, because remember, even on their website, which still remains, uh, the original website, it points out who they were willing to deal with. And it certainly wasn't any of those people, but desperation calls. You understand. Talking to staff members, though, one of the reoccurring themes is that Harry comes across as kind of reasonably nice, you know? Changes the minute that Markle enters the room. And we've seen that with the death stares, if anybody dare touch Harry or indeed, you know, align the fact that, you know, they might have an opinion other than Markle's.

19:18 What's interesting also is that this recent trip to New York where Harry clearly fell apart. I mean, he is malfunctioning when you think about it because I would say he's got so much on his mind with the massive court things still looming over him from the Daily Mail and all that sort of stuff. I think what really got him was he didn't rehearse. He didn't have a backup script as I told you and suddenly he's on the world stage and everybody's looking at him. Now, remember, he wants this to go well because he's trying to prove to his father, His Majesty the King, that he is a viable thing to have back, right, on the royal platform. That's the thing. Do not believe the hype that came up with that rubbish on the Disney docu, you know, about, "Oh, no, he's soaring." No, he's not. You know, it's just rubbish. It's just utter rubbish that, right? So,

20:05 the bottom line is Harry thinks by being, you know, demonstrating how well he can do, then the King would go, "You know, we must have that back, right?" Doesn't work like that, clearly. And what's interesting also, which is slightly falling apart, and this is the bigger problem now for Harry, is simply this. You see, he could have had the support of his wife, La Markle, particularly in New York at the Invictus Awards, at the Royal Naval College and the WellChild Awards. Each and every time she'd rather send a very pointed message of, "I'd rather sit in a pub garden for an 18th century inn with two friends." Right. Go figure. This is not, whatever people say, the marriage has problems. Now, Harry, as I said, then went on to Canada to do his jumping out the

20:51 airplane with somebody, you know, all that sort of stuff. Have to say, you know, whatever people think, braver than me, even with somebody. I wouldn't dare do it, you know. I'm just, oh, no, terrified chums, absolutely, you know. Anything like that, water and heights, not for me. So, again, you know, I would say, whatever, it's a good effort for me. But, the thing is, she should have been there. Now, you could equally say, and this is the thing where this gets very convoluted, right? People say, "Oh, you know, well, you know, she can't because of the children in school." Remember, Markle never does the school run, right? I mean, it's very rare. Even when they lived in Montecito for all time, the staff said, "The nanny did it." Or various nannies. She couldn't do it because she had her business calls or all that sort of stuff. So, again, in allegedly, right? You know, just not

21:38 true. Equally over here, she had a friend, Kelly Stein. There's Markus. There's the nanny. There's a lot of people with her and around her. Now, the only question you would ask is, why wouldn't she want to support her husband, who she clearly knows has got a lot of problems? You know, you can see that whirling around his head. When he finished that speech, which was, you know, really embarrassing and he that sort of thing, I thought he was genuinely going to burst into tears. And apparently, that's what happened behind the scenes. He got very tearful, very emotional. Who's there to support him? Well, he's always mentioning her, you'll notice, even when he's chatting about jumping out of the plane, you know. "Oh, a lot of people thought my wife was from Canada." You see what I mean? He has to pump it up for her. She is nowhere to be seen. And ultimately, that's how she

22:25 likes it. The power lands in her hands. And until Harry, well, reignites his own power, then he's always going to be alone. And that's truly what the royal family look towards. If Harry showed some gumption and thought, "I don't need this. I'm fed up with being bossed around." They may take him slightly differently. Sadly, though, they still know, even at this stage of the marriage, who's pulling the strings. Regardless of Markle's return back to Highgrove gushing teary-like and bringing the two children. You get the picture. Also, just to reiterate and, you know, confirm, it is my belief that Sarah, the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and this particular headline about the seven-figure book deal, 100% is not active. That isn't to say, of course, in

23:11 the future this couldn't rear its head again. There's also new headline today, which you may have seen, and it's all about how Sarah's moving back to Great Britain within a matter of days. Again, a very much deflection PR sort of strategy. If you bring that person back and you get them talking about that, then you're not necessarily talking about the disaster, for instance, of Charles Spencer's book, The Ongoing Battle, of course, the legalities, and just do not forget that even behind the scenes, the deals and problems and everything that are engulfing the Duke of York, Prince Andrew. It may have gone silent, but it's certainly not gone away. And what's interesting to notice, as I say with stories like this, they're put out there by, in many cases, of course, people who want to deflect away

23:56 from the real stories. As ever, you know, it's always lovely to share these stories with you. As I said, you know, it's been a really difficult week for many of the royals, as you can imagine. I would have, you know, think His Majesty the King couldn't have thought, "Could it get any worse?" But to be attacked so publicly and backed up on international media by someone that you may have not had the very best of relationships with, but then suddenly, rather than doing it privately, decides to do it publicly, cannot have been easy. Either way, as I often say on our show, Chums Royal Appointment, this is what you find out when you dig a little bit deeper. And as I also often say, sadly, we've come to the end of our time on this particular episode. But if you can, the flowers are speaking now. If you can, if you could like and, of

24:43 course, share and comment respectfully, I truly would be most grateful. As I often also say, Chums, do look out for yourselves and look after yourselves. Make sure to give yourselves a bit of a treat. I'm off now to get a couple of fig biscuits, to sit down and a cup of tea. And that's what I mean by a treat. It doesn't have to be glitzy, it doesn't have to be glamorous, but you're looking after yourself. You know what I mean? Until next time. Neil Sean in the very heart of London.