Stephen Colbert is a self-confessed anti-royalist with form for attacking Harry’s family once branding them a ‘group of inbred, gin-soaked jumped-up medieval gangsters’: So why did the prince agree to sit-down chat?
- Colbert has taken aim at the British Royal Family on several occasions as a host
- The self-confessed anti-royalist has accused them of being ‘racist’ and ‘inbred’
- Prince Harry is set to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight
Prince Harry is set to make yet another high-profile broadcast appearance on Tuesday night as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the US.
Images of the interview appeared to show Harry being presented with shots of tequila, and, while trailing the programme, Colbert made jokes about Harry and William’s sibling rivalry, and compared his life to that of Harry Potter’s.
Colbert, who rarely holds back when it comes mocking those in his crosshairs, has form when it comes to laying into Britain’s Royal Family. In one segment, he branded them a ‘group of inbred, gin-soaked jumped-up medieval gangsters’.
As the Duke of Sussex makes an appearance on the show to promote his tell-all memoir Spare, which officially released on Tuesday, fans of the Royals will be asking why Harry chose anti-Royalist Colbert for a sit down chat, when the Prince has insisted he sees value in the institution and wishes to hold on to his title.
Prince Harry is set to make yet another high-profile broadcast appearance on Tuesday night as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the US. Pictured: Harry appears to drink tequila shots with Colbert in a trailer for the show set to air on Tuesday night
In the trailer for Tuesday night’s show, left-leaning Colbert appeared focused on poking fun at Harry and his bitter rift with his brother, amid scathing gags about Britain and the royals including the late Queen, who passed away in September.
After playing a clip where Harry describes his pain at William trying to avoid him at Eton, the Late Show presenter said to roars of laughter: ‘That’s heartbreaking. To be rejected by his older brother at school even though that magic hat sorted them into the same house. What do you think? Hufflepuff? Gryffindor?’
Colbert added: ‘Stock up on corgis and steal a priceless cultural treasure from one of your colonies, because The Late Show is going imperial.’
In another teaser Mr Colbert said Spare is available in hardback, audiobook and ‘commemorative plate’ – a joke at the expense of Harry and other royals whose weddings and anniversaries are marked with limited edition tableware and crockery.
And then in a joke at Harry’s expense – and the expense of the Royal Family including the Queen – Colbert says: ‘Stock up on corgis and steal a priceless cultural treasure from one of your colonies because The Late Show is going imperial’.
But this is not the first time Colbert has taken aim at members of the Royal family.
In his several years of hosting the show, he has blasted the Queen, King Charles III (while he was still the Prince of Wales and after he became King), Queen Consort Camilla, Harry, Meghan and – on several occasions – Prince Andrew.
Ahead of a segment discussing The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year, Colbert – who is of Irish descent – told his viewers: ‘Longtime viewers of this show will know that I am not normally a huge fan of the British Royal Family,’ turning the camera to say: ‘Give me back my family’s land!’
Pictured: Colbert dresses up to deliver the Royal’s official statement to his audience, which was shared by Buckingham Palace following Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah
Pictured: Harry appears to drink tequila shots with Colbert in a trailer for the show set to air on Tuesday night
Colbert spoke about The Queen taking part in a sketch in which she ‘had tea’ with a computer generated Paddington Bear. ‘So lifelike,’ he said. ‘Same with Paddington.’
In a separate segment in the wake of Queen Elizabeth stripping Andrew – her son and the brother to the now-King Charles – of his royal titles amid sexual assault accusations and questions over his links to late pedophile financier Jeffery Epstein, the late night host gave the royals both barrels.
‘Across the pond, Queen Elizabeth has stripped Prince Andrew of his titles’ he announced in the news round-up segment that aired in January 2022. ‘So from here on out, he’s the Andrew formerly known as prince.
‘You know, it’s gotta be bad when the royal family – a group of inbred, gin-soaked jumped-up medieval gangsters that are the product of an inherently racist class system, who have all their money from ravaging the world and stripping the gold teeth out of pensioners — say, “He did what?!”‘
Andrew has vehemently denied all accusations made against him. Later in 2022, he paid an out-of-court settlement of £12million to his accuser, Virginia Giuffre.
Colbert also targeted Britain’s royal protocols ahead of the Queen’s funeral.
He compared the monarchy to the NFL, saying they both ‘take a lot of time,’ that they both have ‘a lot of weird rules,’ and that ‘there’s a surprising amount of tacky jewelry,’ to a loud round of applause as a picture of The Queen was shown.
He mocked a story about how a royal bee keeper had to inform the Queen’s bees that the Queen had died, asking: ‘OK, is Britain real?’
Addressing ‘all of our UK viewers,’ he said: ‘I’m sorry to say, all of your money with Queen Elizabeth’s face on it is now worthless. But, I got your back. Just send me two of your old worthless Lizzie Bills, and I’ll send you back a shiny chuck buck.’
At this point, Colbert pulled out a hand-drawn ‘bank note’ with a picture, supposedly of King Charles, with extremely large ears.
In the same segment, he took aim at King Charles for a second time, and his wife Camilla. ‘The new King and Queen are already hard at work,’ he said, with a picture of the pair flashing up on the screen sitting in the Houses of Parliament.
They were sitting, he said, ‘on what I believe are the official thrones of Great Britain. Either that, or they are the new judges on the voice.’
In his several years of hosting the show, Colbert has blasted the Queen, King Charles III (while he was still the Prince of Wales, and after be became King), Queen Consort Camilla, Harry, Meghan and – on several occasions – Prince Andrew
https://youtube.com/watch?v=x0p_EQDcFvE%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
Following Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Colbert joked in a March 2021 segment: ‘Things got real, real quick’.
In the interview, Meghan said she approached the Royal Family’s human resources department for help with the issues she was facing while living in London.
‘You’d think someone in human resources would have stepped in to tell Henry VIII that chopping off his wife’s head could be considered a hostile work environment,’ Colbert quipped.
But one of the most shocking moments from the interview came when Meghan claimed that an unnamed member of the Royal family expressed their concern over what color skin her and Harry’s baby would have.
‘I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say there’s a possibility, just a possibility mind you, that this medieval selective breeding program might be … racist,’ Colbert said.
‘It’s never good when the British ruling class think that someone’s skin is too dark. They steal their land and make them play cricket,’ he added.
In a follow up segment the day after, Colbert said ‘everyone’ was still talking about Oprah’s interview with the ‘Duke and Duchess of Netflix’.
Of the accusation that the Royal Family is racist, Colbert said: ‘Tough charge. I’m sure that made their hackles rise. One of the signs of inbreeding is a risen hackle.’
Telling his viewers that Buckingham Palace had issues a statement following the Oprah interview, Colbert pulled out a scroll and put on a feathered admiral hat, shouting ‘hear ye, hear ye’ while ringing a bell.
When Harry and Meghan first stepped down from Royal duties in 2020, Colbert cheered them on in one segment, saying ‘good for them for leaving,’ accusing the British press of racism and causing ‘Megxit,’ or as he called: ‘Harabdication.’
The late night host expressed his shock upon learning the couple had been living in a house called Frogmore Cottage. ‘Wait, there’s an actual place called Frogmore Cottage?’ he asked rhetorically.
‘That sounds made up, like Hogwarts, Humpty Dumpty, or Benedict Cumberbatch.’
Following Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Colbert joked in a March 2021 segment: ‘Things got real, real quick’ if reference to racism claims
Bookshops in the UK opened early on Tuesday as Harry’s tell-all book Spare hit the shelves – but queues were sparse following leaks ahead of the publication and early sales in Spain. Pictured: Spare is seen in a bookshop in Britain
At the end of the segment, Colbert suggested that he could replace Harry and Meghan to fulfil the Royal duties they had stepped away from.
‘Maybe a Megxit means… a Colbentrace,’ he proposed. ‘Hi, how are ya? Mrs Queen, can I call you Queeny? My name is Stephen Colbert. I’m interested in the position of Royal Highness. I have no formal training in being a prince, but I have been told I’m a royal pain in the a**.
‘Anyway, I’m a fast learner, I’m highly motivated, I can wave backwards, and I’ve never met Jeffery Epstein,’ he joked to raucous laughter.
Bookshops in the UK opened early on Tuesday as Harry’s tell-all book Spare hit the shelves – but queues were sparse following leaks ahead of the publication and early sales in Spain.
But it is still set to become one of the biggest books of the year and one of the best-selling pre-order titles of the past decade, according to industry experts.
Harry’s headline-dominating claims include accusing William of physically attacking him and teasing him about his panic attacks, saying Charles put his own interests above Harry’s and, in a US broadcast, branding Camilla as the ‘villain’ and ‘dangerous’.
Harry has faced criticism for his revelation in Spare that he killed 25 Taliban members during the Afghanistan war.
He has also shared frank admissions of drug-taking throughout his life, and of losing his virginity to an older woman in a field as a teenager.
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