Echoing her husband Piers Morgan’s recent sentiments, Celia Walden has issued a ‘gagging order’ to Prince Harry and demanded the royal ‘put a sock in it’ following a divisive podcast appearance.
The Duke of Sussex appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert recently and reflected upon his childhood and referenced ‘genetic pain’ he believed he, as well as his father, Prince Charles, went through.
While that was what got under Piers’s bonnet, it was his comments on the US Constitution’s First Amendment that seemed to cause Celia to clutch her pen and paper.
Harry had said: ‘I’ve got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers.
‘I don’t want to start going down the First Amendment route, because that’s a huge subject and one which I don’t understand because I’ve only been here a short time, but you can find a loophole in anything.’
Following the appearance, former Good Morning Britain host Piers took issue with his talking about his upbringing and branded Harry a ‘spineless, whiny cry-baby’, and now journalist Celia has shared her own take – suggesting the prince should dodge any more chatter about the US Constitution, seeing as he’s only recently relocated to the country alongside Meghan Markle and their young son Archie.
She wrote in her column for the Telegraph this week: ‘I’m going to give Prince Harry some PR advice.
‘And it’s the best he’s ever going to get. It doesn’t necessitate lengthy conference Zooms or complex ‘communications strategy’ spreadsheets – complete with popularity flowcharts – and, unlike the advice he will have been paying through the nose for from the team of Hollywood supremos responsible for rebranding the exposure of Janet Jackson’s right breast at the 2004 Super Bowl (from “nipplegate” to “a wardrobe malfunction”), it has the bonus of being free.
‘Harry: stop talking. Pipe down. Quit chattering. Put a sock in it. Shush.’
Celia wrote you could hear ‘Harry’s old Eton history master’s forehead against plasterboard’ after his comments, and added that ‘whacking sound’ was ‘Meghan giving her well-meaning husband a handbagging with her Burberry Baby Bridle: “Not the Constitution, Haz – never the Constitution!”’
Musing on Harry and Meghan’s move to the US, the columnist suggested he ‘familiarise’ himself with the ‘concept of national pride’ before passing Go next time.
She explained, drawing on her own experience of living in the US: ‘If I’ve learned anything from living in the US for over a decade, it’s this: Americans are among the most welcoming people you will ever meet. They will take you in, relish your charming British idiosyncrasies and let you start afresh, if that’s what you need.
‘But beneath that unparalleled generosity of spirit, one thing powers them more than any other – and while Prince Harry’s researching his adoptive country’s founding principles, he might want to re-familiarise himself with the concept of national pride.’
While Harry’s found many a critic of his words following the podcast, he had support from This Morning’s Phillip Schofield, who suggested his quotes had been taken out of context.
Phillip had an issue with headlines saying Harry has been calling America’s first amendment ‘bonkers’ and the presenter wanted to clear up Harry’s comments.
‘There is a lot that’s very unfair. There’s a lot of [headlines] today saying the American constitution is “bonkers” but if you listen to this podcast it’s all a part of what he’s talking about,’ Phillip explained.
He went on: ‘What he actually said is “I don’t want to comment on the first amendment, I’ve only just gotten here and everything’s a bit bonkers.”’
Phillip went on to say he thinks we should take alleged comments with no sources with a grain of salt: ‘There’s so much allegedly, we don’t know what to think.’
MORE : Piers Morgan’s wife Celia Walden urges fans to keep quiet as she loses wedding ring
MORE : Piers Morgan quick with the reply as he’s branded ‘handsy’ in savage dig from wife Celia Walden
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