Graham Norton is a brilliant interviewer and talk-show host in the UK. He’s from Ireland but I believe he’s been London-based for decades. Graham is currently on a book tour in America, and that tour included a stop at Watch What Happens Live. Like, I hope Andy Cohen is ashamed of his interview skills, because Graham is so much better. Still, you can see that Graham enjoys being the one answering the questions for a change, and during the WWHL after-show, Graham got a question about Piers Morgan, which led to Cohen asking him about Prince Harry and Meghan. Skip to the 2:30 mark if you just want to see Graham talking about the Sussexes.
Andy Cohen asks him, “Since you can speak for all Brits, what would you say is the overriding feeling about Harry and Meghan over there at this point?” Norton responds:
“It’s difficult. I think in the press it’s very kind of anti them, and it’s been a gift to [Prince] William and [Princess] Kate because now they are, like, deified. They can do no wrong. I mean, Kate can do and hit and run and it would be fine because she’s such a lovely person… But do regular people care that much? I don’t think they do. I think they just think, ‘Let them live their lives.’”
The hit-and-run comment is sooo shady given that Duchess Sophie’s motorcade literally ran down and killed an 81-year-old woman and the story was only around for a few weeks before the British media was back to its regularly scheduled program of Sussex-hate and Sussex-obsession. It actually makes me believe that the British media knows about a lot of genuine CRIMES committed by the royals, crimes which the media ignores completely.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
-
- Graham Norton attends the 2020 EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday 2 February 2020 at Royal Albert Hall, London. . /LFI/Avalon. All usages must be credited Julie Edwards/LFI/Avalon.,Image: 563240022, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
-
- Celebrities attend the ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY PROGRAMME AWARDS, London, UK 29th March 2022 -,Image: 673964868, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY PROGRA, Credit line: Uwe Deffner / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
-
- Celebrities attend the ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY PROGRAMME AWARDS, London, UK 29th March 2022 -,Image: 673964875, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY PROGRA, Credit line: Uwe Deffner / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
Oh thank god. I adore him. I was so worried he would feel pressured / or actually hold and express an anti – Sussex stance.
And Prince Phillip’s car accident. Can’t remember if it was hit & run but it 2as quickly forgotten. 🙁
Don’t forget Camilla’s hit and run, when she literally got out of her inoperable car and ran away.
Didn’t Williams motorcade hit an 80 something women a few years back?
Me too, MoxyLady. I was afraid he would do a Tina Brown on me.
+1-Love Norton and still devastated about Brown.
Oh my goodness I had no idea the royals had been in so many car accidents. Don’t they all have drivers??
My understanding of car accidents was deeply altered when a dear from was rear ended.
It ended up basically destroying her left shoulder, which is her dominant side. As she was extremely active – tennis, swimming, rock climbing – and also had a thriving business where she made most of her stock herself from scratch – the way in which every aspect of her life has been effected as well as the very real appearance of racism in both the medical and judicial field – I can’t look at any car accident the same. She is now disabled. After being rear ended at 45 miles per hour.
Please everyone be safe and mindful out there. And don’t text and drive. Ever.
So for Sophie and W&K, their drivers were the problem – or at least their motorcade was. I think both incidents involved a motorcycle striking a pedestrian as it was going fast to clear the streets for them.
I almost didn’t read this one, because he is my very favorite interviewer on the planet. Graham Norton can even make dull people likable, but he is at his very best when guests come ready to play. I love all of his interviews with David Tennant, Catherine Tate, James Blunt (he is fucking hilarious with Graham Norton), and he can embarrass assholes and make them blush like they are girls in the 18th century, preparing to be ruined, with a smile on his face.
If he had been anything but honest about the current state of affairs in England, it would have gutted me.
I have so gone off James Blunt after clocking that he is a mate of J Clarkson.
….idk if this is accurate bc i have only a couple friends living in the UK who I’ve talked to about this. but i feel like regular brits IN GENERAL do not care about the royal fam? the BM “deified” kate and william…but no one is obsessively following them nor in general think they’re all that amazing…the RF seem like glorified mascots that cut ribbons and do things bc of “culture”.
Most Brits don’t give a damn, be they chronically online or not. Only royalists and IG/Twitter social media republicans thrash it out daily.
I say ‘social media republicans’ because there are plenty of republicans that want to abolish the monarchy but don’t follow royal drama at all.
As a UK person, I’d agree with this. Most people sort of tolerate the BRF but it’s not outright adoration at all, and the relationship between the people and the BRF is actually quite finely balanced. It can “turn” quite quickly, and I remember a few occasions when this has happened in my lifetime. One was after the Windsor Castle fire when the BRF expected the people to pay for the repairs (which really didn’t go down well, and this led to the BRF starting to pay tax); and then after Diana died. There’s also been a distinct change of mood since QEII died.
And Graham is absolutely right about how W+K are “deified”. Everyone sees it.
Jensa, I don’t know if this is entirely accurate, but I got the feeling that expat Brits used to be more enamored with the BRF, because the queen was such a huge symbol? In any case, KC is much less of a thing.
Same @ Jensa, I don’t think most people care. They enjoy having extra bank holidays but there has definitely been a bit of a change in the air since QEII died.
Graham has it spot on. Deified is the word!! He’s so good at what he does that it will be difficult (but not impossible) for the media to try to turn people against him because of this. But most people here won’t see this because he’s abroad so they won’t bother to report it unfortunately.
@Jensa, you are definitely right. The majority of UK tolerate the royals as much as they tolerate the weather. It and them are just THERE, and are pretty well, ignored most of the time. But UK tolerance only stretches so far, and the mood changed pretty quickly and very ugly after the Windsor fire and the lovely Diana’s death.
The mood was starting to turn ugly again when Andrew’s behaviour became public knowledge which was why the Queen moved with such speed to remove him from public life. The royals know they are only a trigger away from what happened in Russia in 1917 hence keeping the media onboard as their smokescreen and support dogs.
I mean none of my friends or neighbours talk about them, but that could just be my little rural bubble. Literally the only thing anyone has said to me about them in a couple years was when the Queen died. My 95 year old neighbour hung up some bunting and said to me “it’s very sad, she was with us a very long time. I watched her grow up.” 😢. But other than that no one seems to give a toss about any of them.
Brit here, we honestly don’t give a crap about the Royal family. They’re all over privileged shits who wouldn’t know hardship and despondency if it hit them in the face. Even the Harry and Megan stuff had been tedious (and I like them) but we’ve been in the deep throes of a living crisis where ppl are struggling to feed themselves and pay mortgages plus winter is coming and electric and gas bills are set to soar again for a second year and the craptacular actions of our government.
Spot on!!!! His statement could be copied and pasted under any comment from a royal sycophant in response to their rage about Harry and Meghan….and I mean EVERY COMMENT. 👍
They are deified and it’s truly nauseating.
I happen to like it ❤ because this is exactly what’s holding them back, they’re making little or no effort to improve. I really believe that all this adoration has stunted William and Kate. I also think, that they were even better 3 years ago 🙄
Don’t get carried away, those two have always been a curious case of arrested development.
Yikes! Sophie immediately popped into my head when he made that reference. He was on the view yesterday, very engaging.
This is true ‘Kate can do and hit and run and it would be fine’ – lets not forget that WanKs motorcade hit someone on the way to an event at Windsor that they were LATE for, its the one where they kept QE2 waiting at the door for them to grace her with their presence.
I LOVE Graham – his talk show is the only one I will watch. I went to a taping once – it was the ep where he interviewed Harrison Ford and Benedict Cumberbatch. It was crazy as everyone was there to see Benedict and I think my friend and I were the only ones excited about Ford.
I loved the new movie ” Indian Jones and the dial of destiny” the imax version was pretty.
Is it worth watching? I love the og trilogy but crystal skull was awful and unbelievable even by the franchises own standards so I’ve been cautious about watching it.
wasn’t this Sophie’s motorcade? and she didn’t do sh*t about it afterwards. probs bc she didn’t want to take any sort of responsibility
Two separate incidents. One Sophie (allegedly), one W&K (June 2019). What’s funny is, he cares so little about the royals it appears he cannot tell Kate and Sophie apart.
Both couples have had this happen to them. Sophie’s was the more recent incident.
You were there for that one?! Lucky you!!
Oh my goodness! You absolute lucky duck! I think it’s one of two shows I would want to be in the audience of.
The other is anywhere Conan and Timothy Olyphant are hanging out. 😂 they are simply so so good together.
Graham is a delight and I regularly watch clips of his show when I am feeling down. Doesn’t matter who or why. It’s gonna be good.
Feels like Sophie did her part covering for SOMEONE, got her solitary show of support outing with William, and has now shuffled back into her closet. This is just too pointed of a comment from Norton to be benign.
Yes! Suddenly it seems quite real that Sophie was covering for Kate!
Hard to tell. Either Sophie was covering for someone (William) OR she was caught outright using RPOs and police to clear traffic so she could run errands.
The Windsors wouldn’t want a public investigation into the number of times royals do those things on the regular. Like entire town’s ambulance and police services ceasing all operations for taxpayers because Kitty Keen has run home to mummy again and roads have to be shut down as a result.
This is extremely interesting.
I assumed it was shade at what really happened during Sophie’s accident. And I was assuming she was covering for William. Still am to a degree.
I suppose if he has said William had had a hit and run it would be too much for roylists so he went for lukewarm Kate?
But we alllllll know there are a number of strange accidents and deaths surrounding that family. It seems that the media has a moral and ethical duty to report on them.
He’s so good and so much fun. If you’re not familiar with his show do yourself a favour and hit up YouTube. Even better search him and your fav celeb on YouTube and see if they’ve been on his show. Can pretty much guarantee you’ll love it. Well unless you search for Mark Wahlberg…but why would you? He’s no one’s fav celeb. 😒
Even Tom Cruise was hilarious on the episode he did with Emily Blunt, Seth McFarland, and Charlize Theron.
I’ll chime in with Keanu Reeves episodes. Graham Norton has a massive crush on Reeves.
YES!
Graham also has the hots for Ryan Reynolds – watch the interview with Reynolds about the movie he did with Sandra Bullock. Its hilarious.
If you think his chat show is hilarious – watch his commentary for the Eurovision finals!!!!!
This really sums it up, doesn’t it? The anti-sussex frenzy in the media was okay 5 years ago and is okay today because the flip side of that is the media deifies W&K. They haven’t put a foot wrong in years for the British press, will be interesting to see if they ever turn on that.
The british press is holding up the monarchy by being publicly supportive of the heirs – that’s why coverage of W&K is positive. It’s a tacit agreement they have.
Private opinion is more nuanced, imo.
You also need to listen carefully to Graham Norton, while the words are perfectly inoffensive, he often gives his thinking away with his inflection.
Exactly. He is never hostile, he can deliver shade a thousand times more cuttingly than any Real Housewife, with a giggle and a smile. He’s a genius.
He’s absolutely right.
Graham Norton is so great. And he couldn’t be right. If Willy and Kate can’t put a foot wrong (that dreaded phrase), it’s because the rota aren’t saying where their feet have really been.
I hate that phrase too, but your wording made me laugh! We sure don’t know where their feet are most of the time, especially William’s feet.
Has everyone forgotten that willie and Kate security actually did run some one over during one of their engagements? I think it was the week when Meghan went to the tennis and her security stopped a guy from shoving a camera in her face. The whole media focused on that instead of willie and Keens incident which left an elderly woman critical. No idea what happened to her, but Willie and keen didn’t visit or anything.
Oi! For real??? Omg.
yes, June 2019.
Like how they failed to acknowledge any responsibility for Jacintha Saldanha’s suicide. W&K were so busy playing games with the press they didn’t follow proper procedure and the nurse was duped.
What happened to that nurse was awful and willie and keen didn’t give AF. She probably took care of kate as well when she was in hospital too. So much for caring about mental health.
I remember the media massively deflected that accident by focusing of Meghan ‘being a diva’ at the tennis, even though she literally did nothing wrong. Nothing has been said about it since, so no idea if the elderly woman died or not.
She died from her injuries: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a43988104/woman-struck-duchess-sophie-security-motorcycle-died/
Love love his show, watched it for years and it is the funniest ever with so many high profile celebrities present in one sitting, which makes an interesting dynamic.
“ It actually makes me believe that the British media knows about a lot of genuine CRIMES committed by the royals, crimes which the media ignores completely.”
I’m sure there is a rap sheet a mile long of hit and runs, assaults, sexual harassment, rapes, child molestation, and financial crimes for numerous people in that family.
“It actually makes me believe that the British media knows about a lot of genuine CRIMES committed by the royals, crimes which the media ignores completely.”
Remember those journalists who couldn’t wait to talk about everything they know about Won’t? Hm, I don’t know why I thought of that.
This reminds me of something Denise Welch said on Loose Women a while ago. She is an ardent Sussex supporter and has had many arguments on that show with her fellow panelists in regards to the Meghan and Harry hate.
She said, she wishes they could talk about all the things William has done but they are not allowed to.
I just so do not understand this, because the press had no problem tearing Charles to shreds on the reg when he was POW. Why is William different? What changed? They must know it would be *extremely* lucrative for them.
What could William do in retaliation, bring lawsuits against *every single* British publication? I doubt he wants to open himself up to discovery. Ban them from covering his events? He knows he needs them there in order for him to get any coverage at all. He would never do another engagement again if there weren’t press there to cover it.
I don’t get what’s holding them ALL back.
Diana died, and the royal family asked the rota to dial it all the way back on the boys. They are still acting like Diana died last month, when it comes to William. None of them seem to recognize they are beating Diana’s other son, every single day, in the “press”.
@Lorelai, William has the super injunction, so anyone who breaks it is breaching a court order. It’s shady as fuck.
Honestly, I take Meghan & Harry as personality test. If someone is nasty to them, I don’t consume anything they create since I don’t trust their judgment in other subjects. I am soo glad Graham is not one of those bootlickers, really worried before clicking the article.
I do too. It’s A LOT less contentious than bringing Trump into conversation, with the exact same outcome.
Same here. I remember a few years back reading a comment on YouTube where someone referred to Meghan as a “walking Rorschach test”. That always stuck with me.
I love the sarcasm dripping from Graham’s voice when talking about Kate
I love Graham so I’m honestly so relieved that this was his take. He could give American talk show hosts lessons. Or they could just pay him enough to come here and do his thing. Let him take Fallons spot.
I’ve always loved Graham Norton. And how he naturally engages with celebs on his talk shows. They’re so good! And I agree with him.
Kate before cameras took threatening steps to Meghan. She got called out on Twitter. But the dm ignored it and kept on slamming harry and meghan.