Duke of York: Visit to the USA and 'Today Show' Appearance - February 6-15, 2008

[Wingfield07]

Prince Andrew was on The Today Show on NBC (in the USA) this morning. The interview was taped, not live. He gave a tour of a few state rooms in Buckingham Palace, and talked about his early life, the future role of his daughters and his admiration for his ex-wife.

Meredith Viera conducted the interview, and have to say I was surprised at some of her questions: "Have you ever been naughty?" and "Do you have any fantasies?" which seemed to catch him off guard!

Link for the interview with a video download is at
Prince Andrew: Fergie keeping kids grounded - TODAY: People - MSNBC.com

 

[Royal Fan]

It was great lol seems a nice enough Fellow! My Opinion has changed of him.

 

[foxfan]

I think that interview was great. I also think it is great that he aknowledges that Sarah brought an important perspective to how his girls were raised.

 

[iowabelle]

I really don't like Meredith Vieira, and I thought she came off rather poorly. (I don't care for her sense of humor, she's always trying to be funny, and she just isn't.) At one point she was pawing at the Duke and was very flirtatious with him. The "naughty" question was about whether he had been a naughty child. I thought he was going to be rude about her question about his fantasies. That question was really, "If you hadn't been born a prince, what would you have wanted to do?" And he said he didn't know.

Some of his answers were interesting. He complained about the cold lunches he had had as a child, because the nursery was located so far away from the BP kitchens. And it seems that, as a child, he was free to walk all over BP, nothing was off-limits. He said there were places he didn't go (the inference was that he wasn't interested in grown-up places like the State Apartments or offices)... but that he preferred to play sports of all kinds upstairs, where he was amazed that he never broke any of the glass display cabinets.

He was very complimentary of Sarah, crediting her with keeping the girls grounded, and very proud of his daughters.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I have always been impressed with Prince Andrew as a working Royal. He seems to be an honest character. When he was asked about his experience with trade and investment he said quite honestly that six months ago he knew nothing about it. I also like the way that he publicly stands up for his ex-wife and his children. I think that he's under-rated.

 

[pinkie40]

It is a pleasure to see how Prince Andrew has matured.

 

[selrahc4]

This was very similar to the tours and interviews he gave to Good Morining America a few years ago. I remember he talked then too about his daughters and about being in the military and about playing in the corridors. Link to Article Another Article

 

[christinacg]

Good interview. I've always liked Andrew because of his sense of humor and honesty. I think Meredith was a good match for him as an interviewer because of that as opposed to someone more serious like Barbara Walters.

 

[sgl]

I enjoyed this interview, though I do think that Meredith Vieira's behavior was kind of unprofessional. However, I don't like the overly-serious tones of some other journalists. Meredith just needed to tone it down a bit. Prince Andrew was likeable in the interview.

 

[iowabelle]

Good interview. I've always liked Andrew because of his sense of humor and honesty. I think Meredith was a good match for him as an interviewer because of that as opposed to someone more serious like Barbara Walters.

Barbara Walters, serious??

"Now, tell me, Your Highness, if you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you want to be?" Cut to Andrew sobbing into his handkerchief.

 

[debzone]

Good interview. I've always liked Andrew because of his sense of humor and honesty. I think Meredith was a good match for him as an interviewer because of that as opposed to someone more serious like Barbara Walters.

Or Matt Lauer and his clipboard..

I actually got the feeling that Meredith might have been "briefed" on some of the topics by Sarah? Maybe it was just me. Overall it was a pretty good interview. As usual though--NBC overpromoted it and then didn't really give alot of the actual piece. At 9am they said more of the interview coming up--only to play the first part over again.

 

[rmay286]

I thought the interview was good, but I wondered if there were pieces missing too? Because in the article accompanying the interview, Prince Andrew was described as mentioning his visits to the US with Sarah...but I didn't hear this on the interview--unless I missed something?

 

[Russophile]

Barbara Walters, serious??

"Now, tell me, Your Highness, if you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you want to be?" Cut to Andrew sobbing into his handkerchief.

Oh that's good!!
I rather liked the way he just raised his eyebrows and gave her a "look" when she asked about the fantasies as if to say "Excuse me?" Not a royal snub by any stretch of the matter, just a little jab to remind her who she was talking to.

 

[Royal Fan]

I Think he was rather Amused ...if I May say so he seems far more likeable than I Gave him credit for

 

[debzone]

I thought the interview was good, but I wondered if there were pieces missing too? Because in the article accompanying the interview, Prince Andrew was described as mentioning his visits to the US with Sarah...but I didn't hear this on the interview--unless I missed something?

It was shown. It was during the sit down segment. Prince Andrew said something like it was nice to be known only as the ex husband or not even recognized at all.

Editing: I still had the interview on my DVR and the part about the visits was in shown seperate during an talk back between Meredith and Matt. It was not shown during the main segment.

 

[RubyPrincess168]

What?! How did I miss this?!:w00t2:

 

[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!

 

[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

 

[Russophile]

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?

 

[iowabelle]

Oh that's good!!
I rather liked the way he just raised his eyebrows and gave her a "look" when she asked about the fantasies as if to say "Excuse me?" Not a royal snub by any stretch of the matter, just a little jab to remind her who she was talking to.

Yes, it was a rather gentle response from Andrew. If Meredith had been speaking to Prince Philip or Princess Anne, I doubt the response would have been as mild.

 

[zembla]

Yes, it was a rather gentle response from Andrew. If Meredith had been speaking to Prince Philip or Princess Anne, I doubt the response would have been as mild.

Well thankfully he isn't as stuffy as those two...

I always liked Andrew...he seems very nice and easy going. He's a good rep for the royal family...he's not stiff and never comes off too superior.

 

[Russophile]

Yes, it was a rather gentle response from Andrew. If Meredith had been speaking to Prince Philip or Princess Anne, I doubt the response would have been as mild.

I rather think he was being a gentleman. Something Meredith really didn't deserve with those wacky questions. . . .

 

[ysbel]

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]

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!

 

[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

 

[ysbel]

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.

 

[Russophile]

It's like coming from the bottom up. We have been at the bottom, we can fantasize about being princesses (of course I was always a tom-boy so I was the disguised knight! ) because things are "better" richer, better food, clothing, people (one would hope!) etc. He can't. He's always been at the top so it's hard to look down.
Does this make sense?

 

[zembla]

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

 

[ysbel]

It's like coming from the bottom up. We have been at the bottom, we can fantasize about being princesses (of course I was always a tom-boy so I was the disguised knight! ) because things are "better" richer, better food, clothing, people (one would hope!) etc. He can't. He's always been at the top so it's hard to look down.
Does this make sense?

Interesting thought Russophile.

I was thinking along the same line but not so much as Andrew having it better than the rest of us. I imagine some son of a Saudi billionaire would have had it better than Andrew without the burden of being royal.

But I do agree that Andrew was born into a lifestyle and will die in a lifestyle that carries very different expectations for its members than the rest of us. I think the difference of expectations of what is proper behavior and what is not would be the hardest thing to understand and like I said, I don't think Andrew has that much of an imagination to be able to put himself in someone else's shoes for awhile.