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Former President Donald Trump has called Prince Charles' wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, "funny," "smart" and "quick" in an unexpected show of admiration during a preview for the second part of his explosive interview with Piers Morgan on Rupert Murdoch's new television channel, TalkTV.
The comments follow an announcement by Queen Elizabeth II in February that she wishes Camilla to be known as "Queen Consort"—instead of "Princess Consort" as was previously announced—when Charles becomes king.
In a preview for the episode airing on Tuesday night, Morgan showed Trump discussing his relationships with, and opinions on, various members of the royal family. These included a clip where the former president described Prince Harry as "whipped".
"Not a fan of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex," Morgan explains in the preview, "But Donald Trump is a great fan of other members of the royal family including Her Majesty the Queen and Camilla, the queen in waiting."
In a clip from the interview, Trump talks about his 2019 state visit to Britain which followed a lower key reception with the queen at Windsor Castle in 2018.
Describing the state banquet at Buckingham Palace at which Trump, as president, was guest of honor with his wife and children also in attendance, he explains to Morgan:
"[Camilla] was on my right and the queen was on my left and I said 'queen, I really have to talk to Camilla for a little while too,' you know we couldn't break apart."
He then went on to describe his conversation with Camilla who he found unexpectedly charming. "I talked to Camilla," he told Morgan, "and Camilla was so nice. You know, different than I thought. She was funny, she was smart, quick."
Camilla's public image has been rehabilitated following her marriage to Charles in 2005. Before that she came under intense press and public scrutiny following Princess Diana's 1995 BBC Panorama interview in which she referred to Camilla with her "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded" comment.
Trump has been as vocal in his praise for the monarch and select members of her family as he has been in his criticism of Harry and Meghan over the years.
In a transcript from his interview with Morgan, published by The Sun, Trump spoke of his first meeting with the queen in 2018, saying:
"It was supposed to be just a quick meeting. And it was beautiful. The pomp and ceremony, nobody does it like the English. I don't know what it is. But nobody does it.
"But I met her, and it turned out to be more than an hour, substantially, because she liked me, and I liked her and she let it be known. She liked me and I let it be known."
On the later 2019 banquet at Buckingham Palace, the former president said, "We had a great time and then they honored the United States but they honored me that night which is really the honor of the country, and it was at the top level.
"And I sat next to her and we talked the whole night. And somebody said, 'we've never seen her smile so much.' We had a great time.
"She was laughing and smiling. They said they've never seen her have such a good time at a state dinner. You know, normally they're a little boring. Okay, this wasn't boring."
Reserving his harshest criticism for Harry and Meghan, Trump called Harry "an embarrassment" and said the couple should be stripped of their royal titles, according to the transcript.
"The only thing I disagree with the queen on, probably one of the only things ever, is that I think she should have said, if that's your choice, fine. But you no longer have titles," he told Morgan, continuing that the queen's "loyalty is to the country. And I think that [Harry] has been so disrespectful to the country, and it's a great country."
Morgan's show titled Piers Morgan Uncensored airs on Rupert Murdoch's newly launched TalkTV network and follows his acrimonious split with ITV after refusing to apologize for comments he made in the aftermath of Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Sharon Osbourne, another television personality who left a talk show position in the wake of commentary made around the time of Meghan's interview with Winfrey, has also joined the network heading its panel show, The Talk.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more