Prince Andrew's visit to the USA and Today show appearance: February 6-15 2008

[Russophile]

Originally Posted by ysbel

Meredith Viera is not a good interviewer! At the start she wasn't even asking complete questions, just throwing at words and phrases at Andrew to react to. How lazy!

I think she was used to being on "The View" where they just talk.
No, she wasn't very good. Maybe she was jittery?

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by Russophile

I think she was used to being on "The View" where they just talk.
No, she wasn't very good. Maybe she was jittery?

I don't know what she did before the View but it seems that she doesn't know how to ask questions.

It was almost like she'd never interviewed before.

It was weird but Andrew did have a sense of humour which I enjoyed. What did he say about Sarah? I didn't get that far.

[Russophile]

Originally Posted by ysbel

I don't know what she did before the View but it seems that she doesn't know how to ask questions.

It was almost like she'd never interviewed before.

It was weird but Andrew did have a sense of humour which I enjoyed. What did he say about Sarah? I didn't get that far.

Which is strange because she started on some cutting edge show back in the 80's I remember seeing her on that. It was made by ABC to take on CBS's 60 minutes, so she has the experience. I just don't know why she was such a dork!
HRH was very much the gentleman talking about Sarah. He reminded me a lot of my father. When my parents divorced, my father never said an unkind word about my mother, my mother vilified my father every chance she could get. When I was 18 and having words with my mother, after slamming the phone down I turned to my father and said, "How could you LIVE with THAT WOMAN??" he calmly said, "It was very difficult."
HRH reminds me of that. Class act!

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by Russophile

Which is strange because she started on some cutting edge show back in the 80's I remember seeing her on that. It was made by ABC to take on CBS's 60 minutes, so she has the experience. I just don't know why she was such a dork!
HRH was very much the gentleman talking about Sarah. He reminded me a lot of my father. When my parents divorced, my father never said an unkind word about my mother, my mother vilified my father every chance she could get. When I was 18 and having words with my mother, after slamming the phone down I turned to my father and said, "How could you LIVE with THAT WOMAN??" he calmly said, "It was very difficult."
HRH reminds me of that. Class act!

You're right. Lucky for Andrew that Sarah is always very complimentary about him although it seems she gets criticized for being cloying and fake when she speaks well of Andrew and the Royal family. I must say that after you described your experience with your mother, I think I'd rather have my divorced parents be nice, and cloying, and fake towards each other rather than truthful, and honest, and nasty.

I saw the rest of the interview and Andrew credited Sarah for keeping the girls grounded. He said that she had the unique perspective of being born into a normal life, marrying into royalty and the getting out of royalty and going back to a normal life which he couldn't give the children because he had always been royal.

I also saw the part of the interview when Meredith asked him about fantasies. LOL I think he was scared she was going to share some dirty sexual fantasy with him; I know a lot of girls that have had one about Andrew. But what struck me was when he said that he never fantasized about being someone else; he just said that he dealt with what he had. I thought that was interesting; it seems charming as Andrew is, he is a man with no imagination, he just deals with his life the ways it is and he doesn't seem to wonder what would happen if he hadn't done such and such or what if he had done that. I was thinking he may have a hard time understanding others who are not royal army officers so I doubt if he can be all that understanding and empathetic of Beatrice's and Eugenie's growing pains as girls.

[Bella]

He's more adorable and charming than ever!!! M. Viera is totally annoying. I wish they'd have gotten someone else but P. Andrew came across fab.

[Royal Fan]

Indeed hes a Grand old Duke of York

[lexi4]

I thought he did well. I do like him. I don't like Meredith Vieira. I never have. She isn't a journalist, she is a poor entertainer and her interview questions reflected as much.
Lexi

[zembla]

Joel on Talk Soup did a funny commentary on this interview...LOL

[GlitteringTiaras]

Originally Posted by zembla

Joel on Talk Soup did a funny commentary on this interview...LOL

I saw that (I love Joel McHale, btw).

I completely agree with him (and others in the media) who noted that they were completely and utterly embarrassed by Meridith's childish and pathetic behavior. I literally cringed watching her ask such inane questions. Andrew handled it quite well, but from now on I hope she will be banned from ever interviewing another royal family member again.

[rmay286]

Originally Posted by GlitteringTiaras

I saw that (I love Joel McHale, btw).

I completely agree with him (and others in the media) who noted that they were completely and utterly embarrassed by Meridith's childish and pathetic behavior. I literally cringed watching her ask such inane questions. Andrew handled it quite well, but from now on I hope she will be banned from ever interviewing another royal family member again.

I wouldn't guarantee she'd be quite as "inane" around another member of the royal family. I don't know, but I got the impression she was acting particularly silly and was blurting out the first thing that came into her head because she found Andrew attractive (like a lot of people in this thread apparently, me included, although Andrew is way too old for me. )

[Russophile]

Originally Posted by rmay286

I wouldn't guarantee she'd be quite as "inane" around another member of the royal family. I don't know, but I got the impression she was acting particularly silly and was blurting out the first thing that came into her head because she found Andrew attractive (like a lot of people in this thread apparently, me included, although Andrew is way too old for me. )

You know, I think you may have hit on something there. People do a lot of stupid things when they are attracted to somebody and they try to hide it.

[iowabelle]

I wondered about an attraction too. I thought she was quite flirtatious and flustered with him. (You know, I remember 20-some years ago Meredith was a serious journalist -- and then she scaled back to have children -- and she has a disabled husband -- then she joined The View and became host of So You Want to Be a Millionaire. That kind of sounded like the death of her journalistic career to me, but Today Show execs decided otherwise. BTW, she's not funny on Millionaire either.)

Did anyone else notice how the Today Show kept peppering the Andrew segments with announcements of an upcoming segment on male baldness? I was rather amused, as Andrew's hair seemed a little... spotty.

Perhaps we should petition to keep Meredith away from Royals and Larry King away from so-called Royals experts?

[Mermaid1962]

Andrew's comment about being a person who sees the glass half-full rather than half-empty was quite revealing. It seems that he has a really good attitude about his Royal role: rather than complain about all his "burdens", he just gets on with it. He sounds like an optimistic person.

[Russophile]

Is there a link to Joel's show on that? I would be interested in seeing/hearing that!

[debzone]

It is supposed to be repeated again at in a few hours 12am ET. I am assuming it is the same episode?

[Avalon]

The Duke of York United Kingdom Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, will visit the United States of America.
The visit will start on February 6 and will end on February 15, 2008

[pinkie40]

It hasn't been all that long ago when he was in the Fort Worth area regarding aeronautic developments.

I hope that I understand his comments regarding "war" to be a broad and general statement from someone who has been in the thick of it...No sane person wants "war" but "peace is not necessarily the absence of war" according to someone much more sage than I....

I do feel his personal view to be rather interesting regarding the fact his ex wife was/is friends of Oscar Wyatt (and his socialite wife Lynn and stepson Steve), an elderly Texan imprisoned for business dealings with the targeted enemy, Saddam Hussein.

[iceflower]

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, kicks off a trip to California by attending
the grand opening of a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store in a
predominantly African-American neighborhood on February 7, 2008 in
Compton, California. The prince is visiting the region in his capacity as
the United Kingdom's Special Representative for Trade and Investment.
Later, the prince will attend a dinner meeting of the British-American
Business Council, Los Angeles. David McNew/Getty Images

** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 **

[wbenson]

Is there an itinerary for his trip anywhere?

[AuroraB]

Originally Posted by wbenson

Is there an itinerary for his trip anywhere?

It was posted on his website The Duke of York > Home , however, it has been removed since the tabloids questioned his use of a private jet.

This is the section that disappeared.

February 2008

Visit to the USA (Miami, Lakes Charles, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Atlanta and New York)
6 Morning - Visit to the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.
Afternoon - Visit to Trunkline LNG, Lake Charles.
7 Morning - Visit to the Tesco Fresh and Easy Store, Compton, Los Angeles.
Afternoon - Lunch hosted by HM Consul General; visit to Broadcom, Orange County.
Evening - Keynote speech, Los Angeles.
8 Morning - Visit to BT Americas (El Segundo).
Afternoon - Visit to Capital Group; visit to Avery Dennison Inc (Pasadena).
Evening - Dinner hosted by HM Consul General.
9 Afternoon - Lunch hosted by HM Consul General with financial service industry experts.
11 Morning - Visit to Allergan, Orange County. The Duke of York makes a keynote speech.
Afternoon - Visit to Science Applications International Corporation - SAIC (San Diego); visit to Sempra Energy.
12 Morning - Visit to Resolution Copper Mine (Rio Tinto).
Afternoon - Visit to Honeywell Aerospace; visit to GoDaddy.com.
Evening - Reception hosted Governor of Arizona and Mayor of Phoenix; dinner for leading CEOs in Arizona.
13 Afternoon - Visit to CNN Centre; visit to the Coca-Cola Company.
14 Afternoon - Meeting with the Consul General; meeting with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the World Trade Centre site; visit to the Bank of New York Mellon.
15 Morning - Meeting with the Sarnoff Corporation; meeting with President and Chief Financial Officer, NBYT.
Afternoon - Meeting with Raytheon.
Evening - Design Reception to celebrate the best of UK/US creative industries.