'Today' scores first US interview with Princes Wils and Harry

By Stone Martindale Jun 12, 2007, 17:16 GMT

Britain\'s Prince William (L) and Prince Harry (R)EPA/MARK KEHOE

In their first-ever American television interview, Prince William and Prince Harry of Wales spoke with NBC News’ Matt Lauer for an exclusive interview aired Monday, June 18 on “Today” and later on “Dateline NBC”.

Lauer interviewed the two Princes last month at their London home, Clarence House.

Prince William and Prince Harry have organized a memorial concert to be held in London in honor of their mother, Princess Diana's July 1st birthday.

August markes the tenth anniversary of her death. The Princes talked about why they decided to honor their mother with a concert, and their own paths taken since her tragic death.

Additionally, the Princes discuss their opinions of America, their image, their aspirations and their frustrations at being in a perpetual spotlight.

NBC News has provided a partial transcript to Matt Drudge of their interview:

"LAUER: Your mom used to say that one of her main concerns for you two was that you live as normal lives as possible.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Um-hm

PRINCE HARRY: Um-hm

LAUER: So ten years later do you think she would be happy or saddened by the state of normalcy?

PRINCE HARRY: I think she'd be happy in the way that we're going about it but slightly unhappy about the way the other people were going about it as in saying, "Look you're-- you're not normal so stop tryin' to be normal," which is very much what we get a lot. You know it's like stop tryin' to be normal. You-- You-- You've got certain responsibilities. Which obviously we do, and we know we have certain responsibilities. But within our-- within our private life and within certain other parts of our life we wanna be as normal as possible. And yes it's hard -- cause to a certain respect we never will be normal."

"LAUER: As I was leaving the States telling people I was gonna come talk to you-- as you're about to mark the tenth anniversary of your mom's death I can't tell you how many people said, "Wow has it been ten years?" That it seems like two years or it seems like three years. How has the time gone by for you two?

PRINCE HARRY: Personally really, really slowly actually. It's weird because I think when she -- she passed away there was never that time -- there was never that sort of lull. There was never that sort of peace and quiet for any of us - the fact that her face was always splattered on the paper the whole time.

Over the last ten years I personally feel as though she has been-- she's always there. She's always being a constant reminder to both of us and everybody else. And therefore I think when you're being reminded about it, it does take a lot longer and it's a lot slower.

LAUER: Does it feel the same way for you?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Yeah I mean-- again just for my personal opinion, when you knew somebody or someone that important to you -- you always think about you know. I mean -- so after it happened we were always you know always thinking about it. And there's not a day goes by I don't think you know that I don't think about it once in the day. And so for us is a very slow and it's a lot-- it has been a long time.

PRINCE HARRY: You know when people think about it they think about her death. They think about you know how wrong it was. They think about you know whatever happened. I don't know for-- for me personally whatever happened you know that night. Whatever happened in that tunnel. You know no one will ever know. And I'm sure people will always think about that the whole time.

LAUER: Have you stopped wondering?

PRINCE HARRY: I'll never stop wondering about that.

LAUER: Because obviously there's also a lot to lose if someone befriends you. You've got a lot of people out there who wanna make money.

PRINCE HARRY: But at the same time, you gotta understand that it's just as hard for our friends as it is for us -- there's a massive element of trust. You look surprised when I say that. But the reason I say that is because our friends have to put up with a lot-- when it comes to us.

LAUER: So the baggage is two-sided.

PRINCE WILLIAM: There's a lot of baggage that comes with us, trust me. A lot of baggage.

LAUER: If your last name weren't 'Windsor,' if it were 'Smith' or 'Jones,' and you didn't have the duties that you were born into, what would you wanna do professionally?

PRINCE HARRY: All sorts of things.

LAUER: Like what?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Well, when I was younger, I wanted to be a policeman. And I wouldn't wanna be that now. (LAUGHTER)

LAUER: The most popular cop on the block.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Yeah, exactly.

LAUER: What would you wanna do?

PRINCE HARRY: I think it's-- it's--

PRINCE WILLIAM: I don't know. It's a really tricky question. I guess. I'd like to fly helicopters, definitely. I'd like to be some sort of heli pilot, you know, working for the UN maybe or something like that. Go off and do some, you know, I'd have to be doing something active -- outside and doing sort of fun stuff but with an edge to helping people.

LAUER: What about you, Harry?

PRINCE WILLIAM: He'd probably sit and play computer games and drink beer. (LAUGHTER)

PRINCE HARRY: Oh, thanks a lot. No, honestly, I don't know how well this would get on, but I'd probably live in Africa. I'd, you know, I'd like to spend all my time out there.

LAUER: In a humanitarian aspect?

PRINCE HARRY: Both. It would be a humanitarian aspect and as well as a sort of a safari aspect. I would have to get a job. So it would probably be a safari guide."

-source NBC News