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Piers Morgan Live
Frost/Morgan
Aired April 26, 2011 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Welcome to a special edition of PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT here in London.
Each night this week I'll give you the inside track of the royal event of the millennium. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
I'm here at Kensington Palace which Princess Diana's old home. I knew the princess well and I watched the two sons William and Harry grow up between those walls.
All this week I'm going to take you behind the palace gates and give you the inside story on the royals.
Also tonight, Frost/Morgan.
SIR DAVID FROST, BROADCASTER AND AUTHOR: This is fantastically exciting.
MORGAN: I'll talk with the man who's talked to everybody else. One of my all-time heroes, David Frost.
What do you think Diana would make of his choice of bride and of the sense of duty that he's now accepted, really.
FROST: I think she would inevitably in the circumstances, also while being thrilled, be full of the most marvelously irreverent jokes.
MORGAN: This is a special royal edition of PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT on CNN right here in London.
Good evening. There's three days to go until the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. And joining me now is a man whose royal connections are virtually peerless. He's also a personal hero of mine. He's Sir David Frost, the host of the weekly program "Frost Over the World" on Al Jazeera English.
And more importantly, Sir David, a national British institution.
FROST: God bless you.
(LAUGHTER)
FROST: How kind of you. We're celebrating all those British institutions of the moment, aren't we?
MORGAN: But it doesn't get more British than Sir David Frost.
FROST: No.
MORGAN: Tell me, what -- sum up what this all means for the country. Why is it so important?
FROST: Well, I think it is partially because the royal family somehow -- I remember a time of Watergate and so on, some people said and friends of mine in the states said, god, I wish we had the same setup you had, where you have a head of state and a prime minister so that you can get rid of the prime minister without rocking the system.
MORGAN: Yes.
FROST: Whereas, of course, in America, the president is both. And so almost a flag as well. Do you know what I mean? So it's very valuable to have a royal family who are going to be there whatever happens, and then the prime ministers can come and go.
MORGAN: I mean the argument against the royal family and the monarchy and the institution has always been that it's increasingly important in modern times to have elected bodies. But as you just said, it can actually be quite useful to have an unelected body that has continuity that can control things when they go a little bit awry politically, isn't it?
FROST: Yes, because I mean when Nixon, who actually resigned, it was like the flag who was resigning in a way because the president -- even the discredited president, you know, has that aura about him which here you don't have with prime ministers and the rest.
And so that -- and I mean of course, on the other hand, you know there are things here in Britain like the president being in power for eight years. There have been time when people have thought that was a good idea here.
MORGAN: Yes.
FROST: Because we don't have that restriction.
MORGAN: No, you can go on a long time. I mean Tony Blair, 13 year, I think?
FROST: Yes.
MORGAN: Some in the Labor Party has been in power for 13 years.
FROST: I was interviewing someone -- Norman Fowler, who is a Cabinet minister, and he'd been in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet. And you know that Margaret Thatcher was a very dominant figure in her Cabinet.
Anyway, he came on the program after she left office and after he left office. And he was saying, of course, it was absolutely ridiculous if Margaret went on for 11 1/2 years. We all knew that she should step down at 10 years ago. Obviously -- that's obvious that's what she do. And I said, so you told her at the time?
(LAUGHTER)
FROST: And he said, well, no, no, I didn't get -- I didn't get a chance to mention it.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: But you are in the quite unique position. And it's hardly surprising given how many you've interviewed. You've interviewed Prince Charles twice.
FROST: Yes.
MORGAN: Once when he was very young, and I'm going to play a clip in a moment of this. And also -- and I say uniquely, and it really is, Princess Diana was godmother to one of your children. There can't be anybody in the world who's done both those things, Sir David.
FROST: Well, it's the best of all possible worlds. Unfortunately, in one instance, cut short in its prime in that tragedy. But getting to know this family as one can, and I mean, it is special in the way they handle things. Hondle (ph) things. That's a new word. It's a combination of German and British, hondle.
(LAUGHTER)
FROST: And the-- but the way they handle these things is very impressive. And I mean - and they learn so quickly, too. And I mean you saw them just -- although she's not officially a member of the royal family as we speak, but I mean, you saw the way that Catherine or Kate handled their first walkabout. So it was just like to the manner born.
MORGAN: It was remarkable. Talking to the manner born, I want to show you this clip. It's fascinating. It's you interviewing Prince Charles I think in his late teens, in the late '60s. And very impressive given Prince William's position now as the heir to the throne. Have a watch of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FROST: How would you define duty as it affects a member of the royal family?
CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES: A royal duty in a way is slightly more inbred. It has to be. I mean it has to be trained in a way. And I think in that sense it's slightly different. You have a wider and more permanent duty in the sense that you can't really relinquish it just, you know, when you want to.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) MORGAN: Very interesting in the sense that he said, you know, they can't lead a normal life, even then. There's this young prince, you know, almost wanting to be normal, but knowing he can never be.
FROST: You're absolutely right because a bit later on in that interview, I said to him, you know, when I was growing up, first of all, I wanted to be a railway engine driver because when English boys are small they all want to be that, and then a footballer or whatever.
But in your case, that would have been pointless. Because your future was preordained, predestined, irrelevant what you wanted to be. You didn't have any choice in it at all. What sort of affect did that have?
And he said well, yes, he said, when I was 5 or 6, I wanted to be a railway engine driver, he said. But then one morning, it was one morning I woke up when I was 6 years old and I thought, I'm stuck.
(LAUGHTER)
FROST: And I thought, I'm stuck was a wonderfully modest way of describing becoming the king, you know?
MORGAN: And actually, it kind of encapsulates the reality of being a senior member of the royal family. This sense of duty that they have. Charles and William has learned to have this, too, is no matter how much they try and wrestle with it, the continuity of the royal family depends on this very small number of people accepting that duty.
FROST: Yes. That's absolutely right. And it's interesting they're saying now that in fact that the Queen and Prince Phillip allegedly had a year or two in multiple places where they could get used to their marriage before they went out to the crowds all the time.
And that's what apparently Prince William is saying now, that they want to have a year or two in their -- before they're all the while surrounded by all of this.
MORGAN: I mean it's been a very turbulent year around the world with uprisings in the Middle East, the terrible earthquake in Japan and so on. There is a sense I'm getting here of everyone just wanting to have a bit of a party. To get a bit of light relief from all the financial crises and so on. And these dreadful events everywhere.
Everybody wants to have a week to just say you know something, let's celebrate a good old fashioned British royal wedding.
FROST: I think you're absolutely right. And I think the figures when they come out about the number of people who came to work here in London today, and this is only Tuesday, will prove you right. You know, the streets have been pretty empty today because obviously -- well, let's have a week off to celebrate. We'll just have the week off. MORGAN: Well, it's never -- not in my lifetime, I'm sure probably not in yours either has there ever been an occasion where you've had two, three-day holidays in the same week.
FROST: No, absolutely. It's appalling.
(LAUGHTER)
FROST: Halftime Britain as they used to say editorials.
MORGAN: You obviously knew Diana very well. She was the godmother to your youngest son George. What do you think she would have made of the events coming on Friday? It's her oldest boy William. The last time people really saw any kind of formal occasion was the dreadful day of the funeral of his mother.
What do you think Diana would have make of his choice of bride and of the sense of duty that he's not accepting, really?
FROST: Well, I think the duty and so on would be an important thing. And I think that -- I think that she would be thrilled of the choice he's made, and so on and so forth. And I think she would inevitably in the circumstances also, while being thrilled, be full of the most marvelously irreverent jokes, because she always was.
MORGAN: She was very --
(CROSSTALK)
FROST: But she would have done that, too.
MORGAN: Would she also have had misgivings about William becoming king? I once had lunch with her and William when he was about 13. And you could see that even then he was wrestling with this whole concept. It wasn't obviously not old enough to really understand what was coming, but knew it was coming.
And I got the sense from Princess Diane that she was concerned about it. That she realized this was a huge deal for this boy to take on his shoulders.
FROST: I think that's absolutely right. And I think it would all depend on what sort of week should have or something, or anybody to have -- you know, in the sense that I think when the pressures were on, also some pressures from a boring appointment to anything else. When the pressures were on, she'd be thinking that a lot about William. But then she would have to be thrilled at her son -- what her son is going on to achieve and the honors that are about to befall him.
MORGAN: Would she have been thrilled with his choice of bride? Or would she like all mothers think no woman is good enough for my boy?
(LAUGHTER) FROST: Possibly, but no, I think -- I think -- I've only met Kate once really, but I think that she's got great style. She's beautiful. She's got a great smile and she took to the royal lifestyle with William very, very immediately. I would think that -- I would think she'll be -- she'll be a star.
MORGAN: One of the key differences I think between Diana and Charles' wedding and Kate and Williams' is that Kate is a lot older than Diana. Diana was only 19 when she married Charles. He was in his 30s.
When you look back, it seems almost extraordinary that she was so young and expected to assume this mantle of princess.
FROST: Well, yes. Because that was marvelous -- because they've known each other for eight years, haven't they, I think? Prince William and Catherine and so on. And Prince Charles had that very good joke the day after they announced their engagement. He said quite right, they've been practicing for long enough. It was a very funny adlib.
MORGAN: But how do you think Charles has matured from the day that you interviewed him as a teenager there?
FROST: I think he's -- he was always pretty deep, but I mean I think he's gotten much deeper. He has gotten funnier, too. I mean we're talking about fun here quite genuinely, because he's got a great sense of humor as well. And -- and so I think he's got deeper, at the same time, his passions have grown deeper, too.
And so when his passions are not -- are not fully recognized, he gets more upset about it. I mean the thing I'm doing at the moment involving for photodynamic therapy, which is a marvelous form of curing certain forms of cancer and so on. And he became a patron of that. And he's passionate about it. And he's given it added verve. And it's great to see him at it.
MORGAN: Do you think he gets an unfairly negative wrap, Prince Charles?
FROST: Yes. I think that the -- I think, you know, the odd -- I suppose you got this if you're a prime minister as well or whatever, but I mean, you know, he makes one remark about talking to the plants and it's his --
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: They all think he's crackers.
FROST: Yes. Someone was quoting that he was going to -- I don't know whether it was his joke, I mean, that he was going to do his version of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" called one did it one's way.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: We'll take a short break. And when we come back, I've always wanted to use these words. There will be more from Frost/Morgan.
FROST: Frost/Morgan.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FROST: So what in a sense you're saying is that there are certain situations, the Houston plan, or that part of it was one of them, where the president can decide that it's in the best interest of the nation or something and do something illegal?
PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON, UNITED STATES: Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
FROST: By definition?
NIXON: Exactly.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: That was a remarkable clip from an interview between Sir David Frost, my guest here, and President Richard Nixon, which ultimately talked about the scandal that led to his resignation.
Sir David, when I saw that clip, your heart flips as an interview.
FROST: Yes.
MORGAN: I don't know how you've kept so calm. You have a president of the United States serving, telling you that basically he's above the law.
FROST: Absolutely. And when he said it, I thought this is fantastically exciting. I mustn't show it. And --
MORGAN: Your best poker face on?
FROST: Poker face, poker face. And you know, at least try and continue the conservation for another sentence or two because it was such a -- which is why I said the thing about as a matter of course. And he said exactly. So just a bit more confirmation of what he just said.
And -- but I mean it was exhilarating inside that he'd gone that far because one knew that he'd never said it before, but that he damn well believed it, you know?
MORGAN: Having seen the movie version of your interview, it's one of the best, I would say, movie accounts of a real story I've seen. I mean even down to the characterization of you and Nixon, I thought it was just spot on. FROST: I agree completely because I -- when I agreed to making the film, I also did not insist on any editorial control. I thought that that should stay with the producer and director, Ron Howard, and so on. And I thought they did a fantastic job.
MORGAN: You raised a colossal sum of money on your own to finance this thing. How much was it you (INAUDIBLE)?
FROST: Well, we needed -- we needed $2 million basically. And that --
MORGAN: Back in the '70s.
FROST: And that's in the '70s. There was a lot, lot more than that. I don't know but -- and above all, there was -- one way we could get the money was by the sponsors. Because we had to sell the program station by station because the three networks wouldn't take it from an outsider.
And so there was -- we had to sell the advertising and there of course people was saying about -- one guy said to me, you'll never get this money. Mostly half the advertisers you're approaching wouldn't have had anything to do with Nixon when he was president. And the other half are trying to make people forget that they did. You know?
MORGAN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: And you financed it yourself. I mean, of all the things you've done in your extraordinary career, was that -- does that remain the great high?
FROST: Well, I think it was a real landmark, certainly. A real landmark. And certainly in terms of raising that money. And we were into the interviews when one of the backers got out, stepped out. And it was -- I was interviewing one day, and then the next day I get him on the phone and so on. So it was really hairy in that way and exciting that we managed to pull it off.
MORGAN: And when you got the confession, when you got the apology to the American people.
FROST: Yes. Yes.
MORGAN: Which nobody expected and was completely unprecedented, and became this historic admission of guilt, really, how did you feel then as the interviewer? When he came out with those words?
FROST: A sense of -- a sense of euphoria or a joy, I guess. And at the same time -- quite a bit of exhaustion because that last 2 1/2 hours, pushing him to go further, him finding being pushed further very difficult to deal with. Coming face to face and I was saying to him at one point, if you don't say that, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. And the last 20 minutes built into that and so on. And he was -- by the end of it, we were both drained actually so we didn't instantly jump for joy or I didn't jump for joy afterwards because it had been such a draining and worthwhile and historic experience. But I mean it was just at that time, whew.
MORGAN: What have been your other great career highlights? Your other personal favorites, the moments you look back on and think, that was amazing?
FROST: Well, there are odd lines with some people. Desmond Tutu, for instance, I said to him once, I said now I always think of you as an optimist. And he said, I'm not an optimist, I'm a prisoner of hope. Great phrase.
MORGAN: Great phrase.
FROST: Prisoner of hope. And indeed, Nelson Mandela, also, the thing he was saying, how was it that you got through 28 years, you were wrongly incarcerated, and you're not bitter? Some people said he found religion. But you're not bitter. And he instead of basking in the tribute as it were, he said David, I would like to be bitter, but there is no time to be bitter. There is work to be done. You know? Because that was just before the election of '93 which of course he won.
MORGAN: Wonderfully man, Nelson Mandela.
FROST: Amazing and with a -- and that wonderful expressive voice. Sammy Davis, Jr. I was doing a talk show in New York. And he was so generous with his talent. And he did about eight songs which he didn't have to do, I mean, with our band --
MORGAN: But some say he was the most talented entertainer of them all.
FROST: Yes.
MORGAN: Would you say that?
FROST: He's the greatest all around entertainer of all time. And at the end of that first show, he said at the end of the show, he said thank you so much, he said. And I said nonsense. I'm the one who should be saying thank you so much for your generosity and your talent and so on.
And he said, you know, when I want to give a friend of mine a present, I don't like to buy them something at a shop and give them something new, I like to give them something of my own. And he took off this beautiful diamond watch and gave it to me.
MORGAN: Really?
FROST: As a present. Yes. I was so moved by that. For 12 years it was easily my most precious possession, emotionally. And one day it was stolen the last 12 years -- MORGAN: Oh no.
FROST: From a hotel. But it was just such a moment.
MORGAN: Yes.
FROST: And it was amazing watch with diamonds around it.
MORGAN: Extraordinary.
FROST: And it was a fantastically emotional gift. You know?
MORGAN: We're going to have another short break. When we come back I want to talk to you about America and your views on President Obama.
FROST: All right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Sir David Frost is back with me now.
David, you've interviewed seven American presidents, as well as eight British prime ministers. Of all the presidents, who was the most impressive?
FROST: That's a great question. I mean, in one sense, I suppose -- all of them have some impressiveness, and all of them have some after-effects of being president. I don't know quite what it is, but there's something about having had power affects your psyche or something afterwards.
But I mean, in fact, there are impressive presidents like Bill Clinton and others intellectually and so on, and they've all got things to recommend them.
MORGAN: If you could choose one to lead the country you were living in, which one would you choose?
FROST: George H.W. Bush.
MORGAN: George Bush Sr.?
FROST: Yes. Because -- and the reason is that I just found him somebody who is -- he was wise, he was cautious, he knew what he was determined to do. He balanced things well. He prepared for the first Gulf War very well indeed. And he was -- and he was very, very -- very affecting up at Camp David when he was talking immediately after -- just after the Gulf War.
I telephoned him the next morning and I said, you know, I think you should really sit down and share your thoughts now with a camera because -- not necessarily mine, but I'd love it if it was, but whoever, because your emotions and your feelings are not going to be the same in three years when you write a book. It's going to be much more academic and so on. And he just happened to like that idea. And the next week, we went up to Camp David and was having this extraordinary -- I mean, it was private, I supposed it's almost a secret session. But it was -- there was George H.W. Bush, Barbara and then there was Marlon Fitzwater and Brent Scowcroft.
And the four (INAUDIBLE) I asked their diaries they went through and made their --
MORGAN: Remarkable.
FROST: -- thoughts and shared their notes and so on. It was incredible. And I -- in fact, I said that he must keep the tape until it could be used because I didn't want us to lose it, or you know. And at lunch he said that I'd like to just do another half an hour with you afterwards, David. And so the others all left and there was just -- Roger Ailes was directing.
MORGAN: Yes.
FROST: And it was the U.S. Marines for the cameras because I thought again you didn't want people who might tell on the material, because some of it was very, very trenchant and so on. And then we did half an our afterwards. And towards the end of it, when talking about what was the most difficult thing for him emotionally, and then -- and he just started into talking about, you know, when you know that you're sending young boys off to die, some of them to die and so on.
And he just was absolutely -- you sensed his compassion. A tear formed in his eye and so on. And it was just totally convincing that you felt that he had gone through that pain and that agony throughout that particular war. And he was a man also of -- a man of his word. In all sorts of ways.
And one in particular I remember was that -- when I interviewed him just before the election again, just after the election, I said -- well, not after, before the election. I said I'd like to do the first interview with you as president, Mr. President. And he said yes, yes.
And I said after 100 days? He said no, it wouldn't be 100 days because 100 days doesn't mean anything if your predecessor was in the same party as you. Because you can't say I'm going to get rid of all this rubbish.
MORGAN: Yes.
FROST: You know, because it's your guy and you were vice president. So that -- he said no, later in the year. And when he came over to London, there was -- to Number 10 Downing Street, and after dinner, he said to me, I'm ready now, I'm ready now.
Wonderful that he volunteered that. And we were doing the interview in the September in the end, and every network, everybody else was under -- pressuring him for this interview and so on. And at that particular point in time, if the president of the United States had said to me, look, I'm terribly sorry, but I can't --
MORGAN: You would have understood.
FROST: Yes, I can't keep my word, but you'll get the second interview, well, you might be a bit disappointed but you'd understand, and the second interview wouldn't be too bad. But the fact that he stuck to his guns and said I gave David my word and I remain by that word.
And he didn't have to do that, but he did it. And it was -- it's not just doing it for me, but it was doing it because that was the way he was.
MORGAN: And how do you think President Obama is getting on?
FROST: Well, it's a tough period at the moment, isn't it? But I think that he's got -- he's got the power and the drive to bounce back from -- he had this high at the beginning, of course. And he's got a lot of -- a lot of crises around the world, actually. And I mean, never has foreign policy really grabbed the headlines as much and so on. But I think that he is -- I don't think he's done anything that can be recouped or recalled or whatever. So I would think he still has -- I think he still has at least an equal chance of --
MORGAN: What do you think of the looming possibility of President Donald Trump?
FROST: Well, that's going to be interesting, or President Sarah Palin.
MORGAN: Yeah.
FROST: What a team they would be.
MORGAN: And on that bombshell, we're going to have another commercial break. When we come back, I want to get some advice from you to me on what it takes to be a good interviewer.
FROST: I don't think you need any advice.
MORGAN: That's very kind. But it's true, I do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Back with my special guest, Sir David Frost. Obviously, I'm a young pup at this interviewing --
FROST: Whipper snapper.
MORGAN: Yes. What advice -- you were the first to do a transatlantic talk show back in the '70s, when ironically it would take you on Concord half the time to get home as it takes me now. Not much progress, is it?
FROST: No, absolutely -- it's incredible why the Concord hasn't prevailed, because usually new discovers that work live on. MORGAN: I can't think of any other form of technology that's gotten twice as slow in the last 40 years. Just air travel.
FROST: Yes, exactly.
MORGAN: What advice do you give? You must get every young interviewer in the world writing to you, saying give me some advice to be a good interviewer. What is the concise Sir David Frost guide to being a good particularly television interviewer?
FROST: Where do we start? You'll know this and you'll agree with it, because you're putting it into practice. But the first thing obviously is homework, which, I mean, sounds absurdly obvious. But some people don't do much preparation.
MORGAN: My brother is an British Army colonel. They have an unofficial regimental motto called the seven Ps, which I think apply equally to interviewing, which is prior planning and preparation prevent piss poor performance.
FROST: That's excellent.
MORGAN: I like that. The seven Ps. I agree with that.
FROST: So you've got to do that. And the one thing you have to point out to people is the fact that you do lots of preparation doesn't, for some reason -- some people think shackle you to going on a pre-planned course. The reverse is true. If you know the person --
MORGAN: You can go anywhere they go. I completely agree with that.
FROST: And where he wants to go and hasn't told anyone he wants to go is probably what he's really most passionate about. The fact that you can go with him on that is absolutely right.
MORGAN: But you can only go everywhere they go if you've done the research.
FROST: Exactly. Because otherwise you think, Christ, I better get back to this subject.
MORGAN: And how important -- I've learned this with television interviewing, compared to newspaper or magazine interviews -- is the power of violence silence on television can be overwhelming.
FROST: Absolutely. And the great thing is there's two forms of silence. And it's only instinct -- there's a lot of things about interviewing that's probably -- in addition to things like homework, instinct is really important. And that's exactly the best example.
You get to a silence and you've got to guess, sense or whatever, whether this is A, a moment when if you keep shutting up, they'll go on and volunteer something that they weren't meaning to volunteer or go further and so an so forth. So that's a pregnant pause. That's one to be encouraged, not for nine months, but anyway, for whatever the period is.
But then the other silence is the silence where the person has simply forgotten what the bloody hell they were going to say. You've got to sense that -- you've got to sense that one because that sort of eternity -- three seconds is an eternity in that sort of thing. You know what I mean?
MORGAN: Finally, who would you most like to interview in the world that you've never had the chance to interview?
FROST: Well, I nearly had an interview with Ariel Sharon. He'd said no to everything. And just a week before he died -- not died, but went into a fatal coma, he transmitted a yes. That would have been a fascinating study of -- from all angles.
MORGAN: I thought you may have possibly pointed to that building. I always thought the greatest interview that's never happened would be the queen.
FROST: And she is in such good form at the moment. And in photographs, in -- she just is really looking younger and younger. You're right, that would be a phenomenal interview. But I don't -- I don't think that will ever happen.
MORGAN: Well, intend to get there before you.
FROST: I'll hold you back. I'll hold you back in some way until I get there first. But that would be one. I'm trying to think -- I wanted very much to get Putin and I did. And of course Medvedev may end up being more powerful one day.
MORGAN: One person in history.
FROST: Cyrus the Great.
MORGAN: Really?
FROST: Cyrus the Great because he was the first man ever to -- who used power to alleviate and improve the human condition and not make it worse. He -- his drive, his first ever declaration of the rights of man and sort of things -- Cyrus the Great.
MORGAN: When it comes to interviewing, I think you've wielded your own power in that sphere in exactly the same positive way today. It's been a great honor.
FROST: It's been a joy. It's been an honor and a joy for me, too. It was great fun, really.
MORGAN: Thank you very much.
Coming up, the style secrets of a princess to be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JULE KNIGHT, FRIEND OF WILLIAM AND KATE: She wasn't what you call a kind of risque girl. She was a pretty safe bet, quite conservative really in the way that she dressed and the way that she acted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Fashionistas around the world are watching to see if Kate Middleton will becomes a style icon like the late Princess Diana. For her official engagement portrait, Kate chose an off the rack dress from London's Reiss Clothing chain.
And David Reiss is the founder and managing director. He's here now, along with one of the most fashionable, stylish men possibly in the world, Sable (ph) Road designer Ozwald Boateng, OBE.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining me. David, let me start with you. I can't even imagine the excitement when you turn on your television and you see the potential future queen of England marching out for her big photo call in one of your dresses. What was it like?
DAVID REISS, REISS FASHION CHAIN: Absolutely overwhelmed. Even now, I'm still coming to grips with it. But to be part of such an historic occasion, it is a real accolade for the brand. Even though Kate has been a loyal customer for several years and she still is, that sort of recognition is something that will live forever. I'm absolutely delighted.
MORGAN: Did you have a warning that she was going to wear one of your dresses?
REISS: It's quite extraordinary, but on that particular day, I was on a flight to Moscow for the opening of a Reiss store. And I had no idea. And I arrived in Moscow, turned my Blackberry on, and I was absolutely bombarded with texts, messages , e-mails, whatever. I had no idea what was going on.
Finally, it hit me what it was about. I grabbed the Sunday paper and there it was. And I can't explain -- I was very proud.
MORGAN: Do you see an instant affect on your business? Has business been crazy for that dress or similar dresses since Kate Middleton wore it?
REISS: It's been absolutely extraordinary. Even this dress she purchased I think a year or 18 months previous, we relaunched it. We have had to relaunch, I think, six times. At one time it was selling one a minute on the Internet.
MORGAN: One a minute?
REISS: For the first few days, it was one a minute, literally. But more important, we are a global brand. But it's given us overnight brand recognition. And that's something you can't account for. It's been quite extraordinary. MORGAN: Ozwald, let me come to you. First of all, congratulations on being OBE. For our American viewers, this is Order of the British Empire. It's a very prestigious award. It's given to you by the queen. You met the queen and were presented with this. What was that like for you?
OZWALD BOATENG, OBE, BRITISH FASHION DESIGNER: Wow. It was funny, because I had met the queen maybe three times before that, so I felt quite confident about meeting the queen again. But there was -- it was explained to me that once you're honored from the queen, you're overwhelmed by this amazing experience.
Anyway, so I'm cueing up for my award. I finally go and get my award from the queen. And she presents me with the award and she says something to me. And what's quite amazing about it is I can't hear what she's saying because I'm totally overwhelmed. So now she's waiting for a response. So the only thing I could think about was OK, when should I come around and make the suit? She kind of smiled and looked at me and went -- I actually couldn't hear what she said. .
MORGAN: I once had a great moment with the queen. It was a party she had for the media, the British media. I was a newspaper editor at the time. It was at Windsor Castle. We looked out at the huge gardens, where they have all the garden parties. I said to her, your majesty -- I said, do you actually like having those garden parties with thousands of people?
She looked at me and she said well, Mr. Morgan, put it this way. Would you like to having 9,000 complete strangers trampling on your lawn? I loved that.
BOATENG: Absolutely. That's quite funny.
MORGAN: David, tell me about Kate Middleton as a fashion icon. Obviously huge pressure on her, whether she likes it or not, to replicate the magic of Diana. How do you think she's doing so far from the style perspective?
REISS: There's no question, she has a great sense of style. And now she's creating her own identity, which is -- I've noticed recently she's experimenting more and more with colors, clothes to suit the occasion. And at the moment, she's probably one of the most watched women in the world. So everything she's doing is being very noticed.
MORGAN: What do you think is her style? What are you seeing so far?
BOATENG: I think she's still developing her style. I think it's quite a challenge. She's going to have the eyes watching her continuously. One thing for sure is she seems to like -- she's very conscious of her body. I think she likes tailoring.
I think she's going to do things a bit maybe simpler. I think this is all going to show over the next two, three, five years. We're going to see how she steps into her shoes and confidence and what she wears. MORGAN: David, we don't know who has made the wedding dress. Do you do wedding dresses at Reiss? Could there be a moment where she steps out and we see you have a heart attack of excitement?
REISS: I've got to tell you, I was doing a press week in New York last week. And they all asked the question about the wedding dress. And I said all I can tell you is one thing: it's not us.
MORGAN: Do you do wedding dresses?
REISS: Not at the moment, but --
MORGAN: Get in quick. She likes your stuff, clearly. Ozwald, there are lots of other guests going who are going to turn this into a massive fashion opportunity. Leading the charge, I suspect, is Victoria Beckham, who has her own very successful designer clothes line now. Will she be wearing one of her own dresses, do you think?
BOATENG: This is the interesting thing. I think maybe she might opt for a designer. It will be interesting to see which one she selects.
MORGAN: Two billion people watching, isn't she going to think, I'm going to wear one of my own?
BOATENG: I don't know if she's known for this type of clothing. It's a big occasion.
MORGAN: You dressed David Beckham, haven't you?
BOATENG: Yes, I have, absolutely.
MORGAN: You have a few guests -- I know you can't name them but you have a few guests wearing Ozwald Boateng on Friday. What advice do you give them? It's such a big day. They're never going to have a moment where more pairs of eyes are watching them than on Friday. What do you say as a designer about how to wear the dresses and suits and so on.
BOATENG: I think really it's about confidence in yourself. When there are so many eyes watching you for any type of big event, it's very important that you feel comfortable in what you're wearing. It's really to find a place in what you're wearing, so it enhances who you are, so you feel that extra bit of confidence.
Because it's got to be the most prominent cat walk in history since Diana.
MORGAN: This brings me neatly to the really burning question, which is not what will Kate Middleton, be but what will I be wearing? Ozwald, you know the answer because you're dressing me for the big day. What am I wearing?
BOATENG: We're going to do something very traditional, a morning suit. I think it's important that you --
(CROSS TALK)
BOATENG: You haven't got your tie on yet, but I'm sure that's on the way. What we'll do is we've made you a Luddy (ph) morning suit. It's black, with a Luddy waste coat. So it will be three piece. Very traditional.
We're looking at a very interesting tie, maybe like a blue tie, which is what we selected earlier for you.
MORGAN: Here is the cutting to the quick moment.
(CROSS TALK)
MORGAN: I have to look sharper than Anderson Cooper.
BOATENG: Yes.
MORGAN: I have to.
BOATENG: I know. I promise you, you're going to have your best shot. We're doing it. I'm with you. After this, we won't have to hear about Anderson Cooper.
MORGAN: Never mind Kate, I'm feeling the heat here.
(CROSS TALK)
BOATENG: I'm working on that.
MORGAN: Don't let me down.
BOATENG: I won't let you down. Strong shoulder lines. We'll only see you from here to here, right?
MORGAN: Just go full length. Make me look glamorous. Ozwald Boateng, thank you very much. David Reiss, congratulations on that amazing that Kate Middleton gave you. I appreciate you both coming in.
In a moment, I'll be going back out there to meet Katie Nicholl, royal expert, and a royal jeweler. And we're going to be talking tiaras.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE WILLIAM: my mother's engagement ring. It's very special to me. It's very special to me now. It's my way of making sure that my mother didn't miss out on today and the excitement (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: I'm back outside Buckingham Palace. And we've got some hot news now on what we think may be the jewelry that Kate Middleton will be wearing on Friday. I've got Katie Nicholl, the other Kate in my life at the moment. And I've got Eric Deardorff, who is a senior at Garrard, who are the royal jewelers.
Between them I reckon we can crack this. Katie, what have you heard?
KATIE NICHOLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The story today is that bets have been placed that the King George III tiara is the tiara that Kate will step out in. There were stories that she was going to wear flowers in her hair, not completely unusual. Queen Victoria did it. But it's not really the done thing for a royal wedding.
MORGAN: This tiara is a really famous tiara. Why?
NICHOLL: It's very famous. The queen mother wore it. The queen wore it. Princess Anne has worn it for her wedding as well. And now Kate.
MORGAN: Now, Eric, you're the man who surely knows all the answers here. Garrard have been doing the royal crown jewels for -- I don't know -- 150 years, right? What do you know right now?
ERIC DEARDORFF, CEO GARRARD JEWELER: First of all, it is pure speculation as to what she will be wearing on the day. We do not know. What we do know is that an historic trend is that the queen either gives or loans a tiara to the princess to be on her wedding day.
MORGAN: How many tiaras does the queen have to either loan or give?
DEARDORFF: I don't know the exact numbers, but I would guess it's at least a dozen.
MORGAN: This particular tiara has been the subject of betting. It's always a good sign in Britain when the punters start going to the book makers to put money on it. Something has got out. Someone's heard something. What is the special quality of that, jewel, do you think? Why would it be, other than the fact that queens have wore them before?
NICHOLL: Well, I think the fact that the queen wore it makes it extra special. She's going to want to give Kate something that really means a lot to her. The queen had quite an interesting experience with the tiara. It snapped on the day of her wedding and Garrard were called in --
MORGAN: You guys actually repaired it, right?
DEARDORFF: That's right. Within three or four hours, we repaired it and had it ready for the wedding.
MORGAN: And obviously significantly, it was you guys that made the Diana engagement ring, which William then gave Kate Middleton on their engagement. So you've played a very important role already in this couple. It would be kind of fitting if it was a Garrard jewel which was on top of her head, wouldn't it?
DEARDORFF: would be a great combination, yes.
MORGAN: What else are we hearing about either the jewels, the dress, the flowers? There's an insatiable appetite for information.
NICHOLL: For new information. Well, the flowers are new. Of course, that's the last thing really that can be done for an wedding, especially has wilted. The royal florist, Shane Connolly has been chosen. He also did Charles and Camilla's wedding.
I'm told that Kate wants white blooms. We know that she's been very interested in flowers. They're going to adorn the cake. There are going to be huge, beautiful, 30 foot high creations here. I think it's going to look very stunning. And she's chosen absolutely everything.
MORGAN: One of the most extraordinary pieces of jewelry ever could be on Kate Middleton's head. Quite a lot of pressure. By the way, the queen cracked the tiara once. Can we imagine the sheer horror if it falls off Kate's head.
NICHOLL: Maybe it's good luck for it to snap on the day of the wedding. You'll certainly be busy if it does. But no, it will be a huge privilege.
I can tell you that on the first floor of Buckingham Palace, in the queen's suite, that's where all the jewels are kept. All of the silverware is downstairs in the cellar. But the jewels are upstairs with her.
they're kept in a huge safe. And the only two people with the combination to that safe are Angela Kelly, her chief dresser, and the queen herself. So whatever she loans, it will be hand picked by the queen. So whether it's this George III tiara or another one, it's going to be very, very special.
And of course Kate will have it for life. There's even a rumor she designed the dress herself. I'm not sure. I think that would probably be slightly too ambitious. She's had enough on her plate.
MORGAN: Mind you, if she did, and it was a hit, she would instantly become one of the most successful designers in history.
NICHOLL: She would, that's for sure.
MORGAN: From a pure marketing perspective, whatever Kate Middleton wears on Friday, Eric, is going to explode around the world in terms of commercial value.
DEARDORFF: She's already shown that her style, people want to replicate that style and -- with jewelry, clothing, hairstyle, et cetera.
MORGAN: For you guys, one of the top jewelers in the world, how important is it that someone like Kate Middleton wears your stuff?
DEARDORFF: Let's go back to the priceless comment. MORGAN: Utterly priceless.
DEARDORFF: That's right.
MORGAN: You can't buy this kind of publicity. It's going to be an exciting day. We have three days to go and we don't know the answers. I'm excited. Are you excited?
NICHOLL: Yes. I mean, I cannot wait for her to step out of the Gorin (ph) and to see that dress.
(CROSS TALK)
MORGAN: We better explain. That's a hotel. Don't panic.
NICHOLL: I know. Well, it's unusual in the fact that she's going to be coming out of a hotel. Of course, Diana stayed at Clarence House before. She has been offered a sweet, Kate, over at Buckingham palace, but she wants to be with her family the night before.
But that's the first we'll get of the dress. And we'll see it before William, which is rather lovely.
MORGAN: Well, Katie Nicholl, thank you very much. Eric Deardorff, thank you very much. And the tension mounts as we get nearer and nearer to the special day. What dress, what ring, what tiara, what flowers, what fun?
And we'll have every moment of the big day on Friday morning, beginning at 4:00 a.m., followed by all the highlights on a special PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT, the royal wedding, over two hours on Friday night.
On Saturday, CNN presents the women who would be queen. Anyway, that's enough from us tonight. We're now going to go to Anderson Cooper and "AC 360."
