Russell Brand granted Royal Variety pardon – ten years on
TOXIC comic Russell Brand has openly offended the Queen and attacked the Royal Family throughout his career, but now, in a surprising turn of events, he reveals he’s been granted a royal pardon.
The self-styled anarchist, 42, has let slip he’s been asked to perform at the Royal Variety Performance later this year. It comes ten years after he shocked millions of viewers with a joke about dating the Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Phillips, while also referring to his serial philandering, in front of HM and Prince Philip. ‘I have been offered it,’ he confirms. ‘I think it’s Kate and Wills [attending]. But I ran through my jokes: not a single one can be done in front of the Queen or a child of the Queen. They’re too rude.’
However, despite tempering his hedonistic lifestyle — he is engaged to Laura Gallacher, sister of Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher, and mother of his seven-month-old daughter, Mabel — Brand has already risked offending the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge by admitting: ‘I like Prince Harry the best.’
At the 2007 show in London, he stunned his audience, including the Queen and Prince Philip, when he
referred to himself as ‘sh***er of the year’ live on stage. ‘i have been thinking an awful lot about Zara recently,’ he added. ‘no, just wondering if she’s single. nah, there would be a courtship... then a court martial.’
Since then Brand has continued to air his anti-monarchy views, lashing out at the Queen in 2015 by calling her ‘Mrs Bratwurst-Kraut-nazi’.
‘Her actual name is Mrs Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,’ he said. ‘ Mrs SaxeCoburg- Gotha! no wonder they f***ing changed it. it’s the most German thing i’ve ever heard — she might’ve well have been called Mrs Bratwurst-Kraut-nazi.’
He then attacked the royals on social media: ‘in England we have a Queen for f***’s sake. a Queen! We have to call her things like Your Majesty. Your Majesty! like she’s all majestic, like an eagle or a mountain. She’s just a person. a little old lady in a shiny hat — that we paid for.’