Behind The Scenes With Princes William And Harry
Posted: Monday, June 18, 2007 7:58 AM by Peter Giordano
(From Today Producer Matthew Glick)
Matt Lauer, fellow producer Joe Delmonico, and I traveled to London the third weekend of April for an NBC News exclusive interview with Princes William and Harry. WATCH VIDEO. This was the first time the two have sat down with an American journalist. It was an unprecedented opportunity.
With so many questions we wanted to ask and operating under a tight schedule with the Princes—there was a lot of preparation and planning that went into this one. Matt, Joe, and I spent a great amount of time brainstorming areas of interest and questions to ask.
We were given complete access. There were no constraints or ground rules in place for this interview. At the same time we wanted to be respectful in our tone and sensitive to the tragedy of these two young men having lost their mother at such a young age. We were also quite aware of the amount of time Matt had to sit down with the Princes. The trick to eliciting the best possible and most meaningful answer to any question is all in the phrasing and approach. And Matt made it seem easy.
Below is the transcript of some of Matt’s thoughts on the royal interview that you will read here and no where else:
Q: What were your impressions of Clarence House?
MATT - Clarence House as you know, it’s in the middle of London and if you’re looking for opulence and a regal setting it’s not quite that. It’s actually a little bit thread-bare. It’s a little understated. There’s no gold leaf and marble and mirrors and things like that. But it seemed like a fitting setting.
It’s got a beautiful garden out back, kind of a formal area with huge specimen trees, and it’s where I met William and Harry for the first time. I think it was very carefully chosen so as to not have the appearance of a palatial retreat and so that all efforts were made to cast Harry and William in the light of being somewhat normal guys despite the circumstances.
Q: Was security tight? Was security what you thought it would be?
MATT - I was kind of surprised as we drove up. I thought we would have to face four levels of security, one barricade after another, bomb sniffing dogs and things like that. Without giving anything away that might cause some crazy to go check this out for himself or herself, I thought it was extremely understated. Perhaps there was a lot going on that I could not see but in terms of what was visible it was very low key.
Q: What was the most striking thing Prince Harry and William said to you?
MATT - I think their awareness (of when their mom was alive) of just how hunted she felt by the media was striking and disturbing. The fact that they talked about being able to see in her mood as she would come home after being followed by the paparazzi, or to see her depression after reading something that had been written in the tabloid press about her that was unflattering or untrue, just how much it impacted her daily life. You got the sense (not only for the fact that they felt sorry for what she had to deal with) it wasn’t very hard for them to fast forward and say now they’re facing much of the same scrutiny.
Q: Do Prince William and Harry remind you more of the mother or the father?
MATT - Oh you know, it’s hard to say because not having met either of them in person, it’s based on what my image of Diana and Charles is from the media and the videos. What is striking is just how the image of these two young men is of eight and ten-year-old boys and was then confronted all of a sudden with these 23 and 25-year-olds. They are strapping, good looking young men. It was just a bit startling and to hear them and their personalities and sense of humor come out, I thought it was a wonderful reality check.
Q: What type of prep goes into an interview like this?
MATT - A lot of prep. I am not the biggest royal watcher so I’m not well versed on every aspect the royal family. A lot of prep. There was a lot of reminding myself of the events of Diana’s death, what happened afterwards and where these boys have been since her death. For the most part, in an interview like this, you go in over prepared and then you ask a couple questions and let the interview take it where they want to go. I think their personalities drove much of the interview.
