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PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT

Tornado Devastation Across the South; Royal Wedding

Aired April 28, 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: Tonight, killer twisters. The south is reeling in the wake of storm of epic proportions.

CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: You have to go back to 1974 to see this bad of a tornado outbreak.

MORGAN: The death toll is climbing, entire neighborhoods have been wiped out.

ADAM MELTON, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: I felt something brush at the top of my head, hit my head. And I opened my eyes and it was the under side of a Jeep Cherokee actually going off the embankment above me.

MORGAN: What happens now? We'll have the latest in the state of emergency.

And I'm here in London along the (INAUDIBLE). And in a few hours' time, the newly married couple William and Kate will come driving along here from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace for their reception of the wedding of the century.

We'll all have the last-minute preparations, plus George Michael.

GEORGE MICHAEL, SINGER: Right inside. Have the best day of your lives so far.

MORGAN: And the genius behind one of the favorite songs of the bride-to-be, Andrew Lloyd Weber.

ANDREW LLOYD WEBER, COMPOSER: She loves "Love Never Dies" which is the top of (INAUDIBLE) at the same day.

MORGAN: This is a special edition of "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT."

Good evening. We'll take you behind the palace gates tonight for the latest on the impending wedding of William and Kate. But first, breaking news on killer storms sweeping the south.

The devastation is beyond anything that's been seen in a lifetime. Whole communities absolutely leveled. Officials say it's a miracle that anybody survived. Now there are fears the death toll will rise much, much higher.

Now I want to bring in my CNN colleague John King who's in the midst of the devastation in Georgia.

JOHN KING, HOST, CNN'S JOHN KING, USA: Thanks, Piers.

The death toll of those devastating tornadoes continues to rise tonight. Nearly 300 people now confirmed dead, 198 of them in the state of Alabama.

Search and rescue teams are combing through the wreckage. Doctors are treating hundreds, hundreds of wounded tonight.

Neighborhoods have been destroyed and in some cases, homes have seemingly vanished, carried away by these devastating monster tornadoes.

As states are just now getting a handle on the sheer scope of the devastation, they're starting to look ahead to the daunting task of recovery and rebuilding. Local leaders looking for help from the federal government, from FEMA, from the National Guard and directly from the White House. President Obama today promising Washington will do whatever it can to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The loss of life has been heart breaking, especially in Alabama. We can't control when or where a terrible stormy strike, but we can control how we respond to it. And I want every American who's been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

KING: President Obama's words will be held close by many across the south.

Don Lemon with some of those hardest hit tonight by the deadly tornadoes. He is in Pleasant Grove, Alabama.

And Don, what's the latest?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, the key word here is tonight. Because night is falling on Alabama, and that's another night of no electricity, another night of sorrow, another night of crying.

John, we have been talking to people here all day, and the only way to describe what they're going through is heart break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over: A grim assignment. Looking for tornado victims buried in debris.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is alive. They'll be fine.

LEMON: For survivors, the worst part is not recognizing the place you've called home all your life. (On camera): When you look around at all this, what do you think, Evelyn?

EVELYN ULLMAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Whew. You know, I don't even have -- I can't even put that into words. It is unreal. It looks like a third world country. A place that has been strategically hit by war.

LEMON (voice-over): No strategy behind the tornado that ravaged Forrest Hill, Alabama, just random carnage out of nowhere.

(On camera): How did you get out?

VICTORIA RUDOLPH, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Right there. We came out through here. We crawled. We got on those bricks. He helped me get up there and we crawled out here . How did we get out? I don't know. But we got out.

MACOLEE MUHAMMAD, TORNADO SURVIVOR: It's gone.

LEMON (voice-over): They got their lives, but nowhere to live.

MUHAMMAD: I moved all the way from Colorado to live here. I don't have anything left, sir. Most of this is sentimental to me because it's my mother's and I've had it for 40 years and I can't get any of it back. I can't get any of it back. My pictures are gone. All my mother's stuff that she had. And she handed it down to me. It's gone, it's just gone. It's absolutely (ph) devastating.

I don't know how to do this. I don't have anything. This is all I got.

LEMON: They've got their lives but nowhere to live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Another night of fear and sadness and who knows what they're going to wake up tomorrow -- John.

KING: It's horrible. Don Lemon. Thank you, Don.

We'll stay on top of these stories throughout the night. For now, though, let's get back to Piers Morgan.

MORGAN: With me now is Adam Melton, a student of the University of Alabama. And an eyewitness to the destruction.

Adam, thank you for joining me. Tell me exactly what you saw.

MELTON: Well, it was -- we were watching it on the Internet. Didn't have a TV. I was watching a live broadcast of it. And saw the tornado coming in. They were telling us it was going to go north of us. But then we watched on the video -- we actually watched it drop out of the sky and it appeared to be going south of us. So we thought we were OK. But we were look out on the porch. We're looking around. There was no rain, there was no -- it was barely breezy, no hail or anything like that. In fact, it was kind of a nice day looking outside. Just kind of overcast.

I went back inside. I had some things thrown in a bag and was looking at the newscast all of a sudden -- and then all of a sudden the power went out and then my girlfriend walked out on the porch and saw people -- I was living in an apartment complex. On the second floor, we saw people running out of a house just in front of my apartment complex.

They were running into the kind of the dugout crawl space underneath the house. And we asked them if -- you know, if it was headed for us because the Internet went out. And they looked up and when I looked back up at us, they pointed above my head off behind me where I couldn't see, and said it's right behind me.

So we grabbed my bag, we ran down underneath the crawl space, climbed in. Right before I went into the door, I turned around and looked and could see it just coming right at us. Crawled in. We all got into the crawl space. It was really about -- the only actual dugout. It was about three-foot deep.

We were able to climb in. We were able to put our backs up against the wall. And you could just hear the wind going by. And then I felt the -- actually I was able to watch the supports of the house shift forward and the whole house just lift off from above us. There was nothing above us.

I closed my eyes again and less than a second later I felt something brush the top of my head, hit my head. And I opened my eyes and it was the underside of a Jeep Cherokee actually going off the embankment above me so my head -- there's about four inches of concrete above my head. And in the basement in front of me.

And the Jeep Cherokee went right off and just grazed the top of my head. And the tire hit my shoulder. And it landed right in front of me. And I could have literally touched out -- reached out and touched it. But I was actually -- it stopped moving thankfully and the whole ordeal was over in less than 10, 15 seconds.

MORGAN: I mean that's quite extraordinary testimony, Adam. I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like that. Nor have I seen video images quite like this. It's one of the -- one of the most scary things I would imagine that you could ever be through, isn't it?

MELTON: It was -- it was very surreal. It almost felt as if you were at a theme park and you were on one of the rides and you know, everything is moving and shaking and things are getting very close to you but not actually touching you. And I never actually felt scared. It was -- every time you would close your eyes it would just -- it would disappear at that time or disappear.

It was when you close your eyes and when you open your eyes, it's just that time no longer existed. And actually never was scared. I never felt like I was going to die or the -- you know, that my life was flashing before my eyes or anything like that. But it was -- it definitely hit me once I opened the eyes, saw the Jeep there, and we started climbing out and then you're hearing people in the rubble around us.

MORGAN: I mean around where you were, we now know that hundreds of people have tragically lost their lives. Did you see people dying around you? I mean describe what the scene was around you.

MELTON: Certainly. Actually from my understanding, my apartment complex, there were no fatalities that I'm aware of. Everyone started climbing out of the rubble and we all started, you know, calling out to people. You could hear people from inside the rubble.

And I helped with probably five or six, pulling five or six individuals out, including a deaf couple that we were able to get out from the first floor. They had, you know, two floors worth of apartment on top of them.

MORGAN: I mean really extraordinary escape. I mean I -- when you've seen how many people have died, it's bordering on miraculous that nobody, given where you are on the scale of this destruction did lose their lives, isn't it?

MELTON: It really is. The first report I heard was 15 people were confirmed dead. And I was astonished that there weren't 15 people just from my apartment complex alone. It really was miraculous. Almost everyone in my apartment complex has a pet or a dog.

And all the dogs were fine. And everyone really -- the worst injury I saw was this lady had a laceration on her leg that was quite bad. But we pulled her out after several hours and she was OK, though. She was OK.

MORGAN: And Adam, we're seeing some activity behind you now. Obviously the clear-up process has got to begin. Can you tell me what's going on in relation to that?

MELTON: Yes. Well, I'm a student at the university and from where I was, I was literally a mile from campus. And we immediately received e-mails from the university that they had opened up facilities for us. They had opened up counseling for us, if anybody needed refuge or a place to go.

My main concern once it actually went over us was we heard there was a second tornado headed straight for us. And that's when the tornado hit. Then we didn't have any more updates. Thankfully it went south. I don't think it did too much more damage. I'm really not sure at this point.

But yes, the clean-up process has started. The fire -- over where I was, the police station is gone, the fire station is gone, and we -- I saw firefighters reuniting actually in the rubble. They were helping pull people out. And they would, you know, see someone they knew and that's the fist chance they had gotten to talk to them. So, yes, it really started immediately after it happened -- happened all -- late last night but it's really today that the major earth moving and, you know, searching is still going on.

MORGAN: Well, Adam on a day of terrible tragedy in many parts of America's south, that's a really uplifting story of survival, bordering on miraculous.

Thank you very much for joining me.

MELTON: Thank you.

MORGAN: Now I want to bring in FEMA administrator Craig Fugate.

Mr. Fugate, how bad is this and certainly in comparison to tornadoes we've seen in the past?

FUGATE: We are looking at the damage in Mississippi, but particularly Alabama, you have to go back to 1974 to see this bad of a tornado outbreak. In the '74 outbreak, over 300 people lost their lives, as we have already several hundred fatalities being reported and that number continues to grow.

MORGAN: What is the first thing that you do as a FEMA administrator to try and get to the communities that have been most hit here?

FUGATE: Well again, with this type of response, the governor of Alabama and his teams are leaving the response. Last night, President Obama did declare an emergency for direct federal assistance to Alabama to support their search and rescue operations. And our teams were arriving yesterday last night and today to support that response and to begin looking at the steps for recovery.

MORGAN: And we seem to be going through the most extraordinary period for natural disasters, including tornadoes and so on. Is this a very unusual time that we are experiencing here from your experience?

FUGATE: It's been a very busy spring. And unfortunately this event yesterday has been the most devastating for loss of life that I've seen in my time here at FEMA.

MORGAN: And what advice would you give to people who've suffered terrible damage to their property and so on? What is the first thing they should be doing?

FUGATE: First thing is to take care of yourself and your family. If you need help, a lot of volunteer agencies, Red Cross, Salvation Army. They are coming into these communities. But the next steps or the next couple of days is basically make sure you're OK and your family is OK.

Get your valuable papers so you know what assistance you have, insurance claims, calling your insurance agency. But right now, it's really focused on life safety. Take care of yourself. And then let's start -- we're looking at what it's going to take to recover from this impact.

MORGAN: And tell me, Mr. Fugate, how good are we getting at predicting tornadoes of this scale? I mean do we have any idea what may be coming around the corner on the back of this one? Are you expecting more?

FUGATE: There's a slight risk for some more tornadoes and severe weather on the East Coast, but the National Weather Service, their storm prediction center, kind of like the hurricane center for tornadoes, they were putting out forecasts several days ago of a risk of a moderate and then a high risk of tornadoes.

And that's one of the more severe classifications for tornado outbreaks. And so they had this forecasts. Unfortunately, it happened.

MORGAN: Craig Fugate, thank you very much indeed. And good luck with the work that you're doing.

FUGATE: Thank you.

MORGAN: And we'll have more on the killer twisters later on the show. Coming up next, the countdown to the royal wedding with George Michael.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Two billion people around the world will be watching in a few hours' time as Prince William and Kate Middleton say I do.

And joining me now, a man who gave the couple the wedding gift of a lifetime, a special song recorded just for them. That man is George Michael.

George, so rare to see you come and do an interview in front of a camera.

MICHAEL: I know. It's quite rare. Quite an event, I think -- well, today. Quite an event. I'm pleased to be here. Very pleased to be here.

MORGAN: Tell me how the song. When I last interviewed you, we put it on a download, we collaborated on this. I was very proud to be part of it. It's "You and I," the Stevie Wonder that song you redid. And it's been going great guns, right?

MICHAEL: Yes, I think about 200,000 downloads, a little more. And probably about the same number of streaming. Because you can't actually download it, unfortunately, on your phone. You have to go to the site, on my Web site. But yes, so lots and lots of people like it, which is great. But you know ultimately, I've heard that they like it which is the most important thing.

MORGAN: Well, I've heard more than that. There is a suggestion which you can confirm now if you like that --

MICHAEL: What are you going to say now?

MORGAN: Well, I'm told that at the party --

MICHAEL: Yes.

MORGAN: Tomorrow night they're actually going to play it.

MICHAEL: Well, I've been told that, yes, I've been told that, which is great. I got some -- I got the CD to them. I went out and got the cheesiest, cheesiest royal wedding paper I could find which was like a multicolored collection of stamps with the queen's head on it. And a really cheesy card and I wrote inside, have the best day of your lives so far.

MORGAN: That's nice.

MICHAEL: And then, yes. I'm very, very happy they like it.

MORGAN: You've always lived in London predominantly, and you've never been one of these tax exiles. Do you know better than most people what it means to Britain to have this kind of event? How would you sum it up?

MICHAEL: I think -- well, firstly, you know, as you've mentioned before, you know, two bank holidays back to back with a few days of work in between and glorious sunshine is an incredible thing in England, anyway. It's a very rare thing. But also I think it's -- you know, this is such a tough time in our country for so many reasons for so many people. And the people around the world actually since the whole credit crunch thing.

And I think it really shows that for all the people who have their doubts about whether we should be a republic or not, there are times when the royal family is a great thing, just in terms of trying to maybe distract us from some of our problems. And I think this is really not just about William and Kate and the country. I think it's also about the memory of his mother. And --

MORGAN: And you knew Diana very well. We discussed that before.

MICHAEL: Yes, yes.

MORGAN: And you actually, you know, used to meet up with her and you would talk to her very candidly about stuff.

What do you think she would have made of this occasion of William's choice of bride?

MICHAEL: I don't think she could have been happier, really. As I said to you before, you know, obviously there's the possibility that she wouldn't have been happy with any woman in the world for her son.

MORGAN: Yes.

(LAUGHTER) MICHAEL: You know that is quite a regular occurrence apparently. But no, I think she would have -- I think there are two things. I think one, she would have been absolutely delighted that William had come through the last 12 or 13 years without the media crushing him.

She'd be delighted, I think, that they waited long enough, that they knew each other for long enough. And I think when you look at Kate, you don't see much potential for her being a victim. So I think that Diana would have been really happy that he'd found somebody with a kind of strength of character to be able to deal with the things that she couldn't deal with, you know?

MORGAN: I mean you've had to deal with extraordinary media scrutiny over the years.

MICHAEL: Yes, I can relate in some ways.

MORGAN: You can. But you have. And you've had your own problems in the past couple of years.

MICHAEL: Yes. Yes .

MORGAN: What advice would you give them to living in this weird goldfish bowl?

MICHAEL: I think always to put the public's affection above the media's need for headlines, I suppose. You know, if I really believe -- if I truly believe that the British public or the world at large felt about me the way the press do, for instance, the tabloids and stuff, then I'd give up tomorrow. I wouldn't bother.

I wouldn't bother and I think in order for -- when you look at William, you do not see a man who's been destroyed by 10 years of speculation about his mother's death, which is enough to destroy anyone, I think.

I think Charles must have been a very good father in that time. And I think the only advice I would give is that, never forget that it's the public's relationship with you that matters, not the media's. You know?

MORGAN: What do you think of the Queen? I mean she's served 60 years now. One of the greatest reigns in the history of the British monarchy. Barely put a foot wrong in that time, has she?

MICHAEL: I think she has most people's respect in a sense even if they're not royalists, I think she has the respect of -- the fact that she's gone this long, let's be honest. You know she looks really bored. And who wouldn't be? The number of things she's had to attend, you know, over the years.

She -- absolutely we associate her with complete duty, I think. Whatever other things we might have -- we may know about her, I think everyone understands that when she's no longer around, it will not be the same. The royal family will not feel the same. MORGAN: Why do you think you would know this better than most? Because you spent so much time in America as well. Why does America go so crazy for royal events like this?

MICHAEL: Well, I think, probably because there isn't that much coverage of anything on international television which is really linked strongly to the past. And, you know, I think they love the genuine pageantry and the genuine history of it because -- and it's not to be patronizing, but a 400-year-old country is not going to have that. You know?

And I think when their own leaders let them down again and again and again, they think it would be nice to have some icons actually who aren't responsible for anything political.

MORGAN: Yes.

MICHAEL: That they could just -- because we all actually in a strange way do need to admire people here and there in life. You know, it's very discouraging how few people there are to admire.

So I think for the reason just of incredible -- a sense of duty and a sense of -- really not putting a foot wrong, like you said. Not upsetting anybody in that time, that's a pretty remarkable feat.

MORGAN: "You and I" is a ballad. So we could almost hope this might be the first song as the loving couple embrace and slowly dance around the dance floor. When we want to get things pumping at Prince Harry's disco, which of all your songs is the one that you would absolutely say is to the banker to get things going?

MICHAEL: I'd have say "I'm Your Man" for that.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: Has to be.

MICHAEL: Doesn't it? Has to be "I'm Your Man" if he's --

MORGAN: Well, "I'm Your Man" or "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."

MICHAEL: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" doesn't say anything about William. You know?

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: You think "I'm Your Man"?

MICHAEL: "I'm Your Man," I think yes. Yes. Absolutely. Something with the little above.

MORGAN: And where will you be tomorrow, George? Where are you going to watch?

MICHAEL: I'm not telling you where, but I am going to a party.

MORGAN: A royal wedding party?

MICHAEL: Well, it's kind of -- I'm not sure if it's a royal wedding party or a bunch of people really taking the mick. I don't know. I know there will be a few famous comedians there.

MORGAN: Yes.

MICHAEL: So I think -- yes, I think it'll be fun. It'll be fun.

(CROSSTALK)

MICHAEL: It may be a little irreverent, I'm not sure.

MORGAN: Yes, but I think there's no harm --

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: I think to say you can stop laughter as well. It's supposed to be a fun day.

MICHAEL: And I'm told that both Harry and Kate -- sorry.

MORGAN: William.

MICHAEL: I'm told that both William and Kate have a great sense of humor and they like kind of (INAUDIBLE) themselves up so I won't feel guilty.

MORGAN: Finally, George, what would you like to say to them on their special day? What message would you give the happy couple?

MICHAEL: I think the one that I put in the card, really. I truly meant that. Have the best day of your lives so far. Because obviously there are some great events to come in the form of children obviously, hopefully for them. But you know this should be the best day of their lives so far hopefully.

MORGAN: Well, George, thank you so much for coming here.

MICHAEL: Thank you. My pleasure.

MORGAN: I know you don't do this very often. And much appreciated. Thank you.

MICHAEL: Thank you. My pleasure really.

MORGAN: Coming up, behind the scenes of the royal wedding, the latest details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: And here now with all the latest details on the royal wedding, our PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT royal correspondent Katie Nicholl, CNN contributor Cat Deeley, and a special guest -- I'm very excited by this -- Colonel Stuart Cohen of the Commander of the Household Cavalry. Colonel, you're the boss.

COL. STUART COWEN, COMMANDER, HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY: There's a huge organization there. The household cavalry put a small part to play in it and that's providing escorts --

MORGAN: All those guys on the horses looking immaculate, they're your men, right?

COHEN: They're the Household Cavalry, they're only a small part of it. We have another part of the Household Cavalry which is the operational side which goes on operations. We go (INAUDIBLE) in Afghanistan at the moment and they will be coming back shortly. So the guys you see there are soldiers who've gone operations and come back and do the ceremonials as well.

MORGAN: What would you personally be doing tomorrow on the big day?

COWEN: As command of the Household Cavalry, I oversea the whole of the Household Recovery, all the guys on horses going out on parade. I ride in the middle of the sovereign's escort, which is the escort which goes with her majesty, the queen. And I'll be riding a short distance behind her carriage.

MORGAN: This to me sounds unbelievably exciting. You'll with on your horse in between the main carriages.

COWEN: We actually leave Westminster Abbey on horse, which sometimes has a different view of --

MORGAN: Do you get nervous or not?

COWEN: No, you train. You rehearse. Like all things in the Army do, we try and reduce the risk to a minimum. And then you just get on with the business on the day and make it happen.

MORGAN: Obviously you have a connection to William. It was his old regiment. So what will you be thinking about him on the day as one of your own?

COWEN: It is a huge privilege to have had him in our regiment. Hopefully he saw a bit of training and had some good experiences with the regiment there.

So we're all sporting him hugely. There are couple of the warrant officers and NCOs who served with him who are going to be in the path lining party outside the abbey. And I know the squadron he worked with, D Squadron, will be routing a cheer for him in Helmund.

MORGAN: Let me bring you in here. When you see one of our dashing colonels like this, speaking in this clipped queen's English like this, Union Jack flag in the back, this is what it's all about. Isn't it?

DEELEY: Absolutely. It makes me feel very patriotic. It feels very good to be British. And look, he's cool as a cucumber. You wouldn't argue with him, would you?

COWEN: After that, I'll be riding two inches higher in the saddle.

MORGAN: You lust made the colonel's day, Cat Deeley.

Kate, let me bring you in. What's the latest gossip from the wedding? There's been so much speculation. Unbelievably, we are less than 24 hours away. We still don't know who made the dress, right?

NICHOLL: No. We still don't know who made the dress. But it's not just the Household Cavalry who have been rehearsing. I was down at Westminster Abbey this morning and Kate turned up. We didn't expect it at all. But she turned up with Prince Harry and the bridesmaids for a last minute rehearsal.

They were rehearsing last night. It's either Kate perhaps having a bit of last-minute jitters. Although I thought she looked cool as a cucumber when we saw her yesterday. I suspect it was probably more to get those little bridesmaids, because there are only three, just absolutely confident in what they're doing, and they're not wandering off the aisle.

Well, I know.

(CROSS TALK)

NICHOLL: She's got Pippa in charge of them all. I wouldn't mess with Pippa. Tonight, they're going to be hosting a really special dinner for Kate. It's going to be her last dinner with them as a single woman. They've got loads of champagne, I mean thousand pounds a bottle champagne. They are serving caviar. And apparently roast beef is on the menu as well.

So they will have a special supper. And William and Harry will be with their father, I think just spending it quietly, perhaps a moment for reflection, just the three of them at Harry's house.

Because, of course, the Prince of Wales was due at this reception at Mandarin Oriental, all the heads of state and royal families. That's right, they'll all be there with the queen.

MORGAN: Cat, you and I will be in this studio tomorrow for hours on end, comparing our frocks obviously.

DEELEY: Exactly, and Anderson, the other reporter. We'll have to keep you both in order, I think.

MORGAN: What are you most excited about tomorrow?

DEELEY: I'm excited about the dress. Like you said, there's been so few leaks. We know so few details that it's actually going to make it really exciting tomorrow, because there are going to be so many surprises all along the way.

I'm really hoping it's going to be Sarah Burton that creative director from Alexander McQueen's. I'm hoping about that. And then I just think -- I can't wait to see the kiss.

I don't want it on the hand and I don't want it on the cheek. I want a big smacker.

MORGAN: Are we all excited about this? I'm very excited. It's history.

(CROSS TALK)

DEELEY: And it's one of those moments where everybody always turns around and goes, where were you when? You know?

MORGAN: I think the Brits, we do two things better than anybody in the world, in my opinion. One is pomp and pageantry and royal weddings. And the other is our armed forces.

COWEN: Well, you've got a combination of both tomorrow.

MORGAN: You are straddling both divides, colonel.

(CROSS TALK)

COWEN: Straddling a large horse as well. We'll see how that goes.

MORGAN: Thank you very much, all of you, for coming in. Much appreciated.

When we come back, the genius behind one of Kate Middleton's favorite songs, Andrew Lloyd Weber.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: That was from a stage adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz," Andrew Lloyd Weber's latest venture, now playing at London's West End. And Lord Lloyd Weber, to give him his proper title, is here with me now, alongside another British Peer of the Realm, Lord Sugar, a multi- millionaire business tycoon, whose only real claim to fame is that he fired me from the UK version of "Celebrity Apprentice," in contrast to Donald Trump who allowed me to win his version, which I think says it all.

Lord Lloyd Weber, let me start with you, because you have breaking news about what we're going to be hearing in the service tomorrow.

LORD ANDREW LLOYD WEBER, COMPOSER: Well, not really breaking news because it's been on the net, as it were, today. But it's a very interesting service order, because it's all basically late 19th century, 20th century, British composers, serious British composers.

Let me put it this way, I'm not invited to the wedding, but now I have seen the list of composure, I wish I had. It's absolutely -- absolutely extraordinary.

MORGAN: So you applaud the choice of music?. WEBER: I do.

MORGAN: What does it this mean to you as a Brit?

LORD SUGAR, BRITISH ENTREPRENEUR: Well, I know the Americans are fascinated with it, because I just came back from Americans and everybody was talking about it. I think it's a great thing, a great occasion. We need something good at the moment to talk about. There's too much depression and bad news going on.

I feel sorry for the couple, quite frankly. I really do.

MORGAN: Why?

SUGAR: Because I think that they are joining the biggest reality show on Earth. But it's unlike you and I, for example, and Andrew. We can decide not to do television and things like that anymore, if we don't want to. They're finished.

MORGAN: Andrew, I know that Kate Middleton loves one of your songs, apparently. Which one is it?

DEELEY: Well, allegedly, although I don't know, she loves "Love Never Dies." which is the title song of my musical of the same name. But I merely read that. And I don't know her. I mean, I know William a little bit. So I can't absolutely vouch for this.

MORGAN: What do you make of William? Do you think we're getting a good one here?

DEELEY: I think we really have. I mean, I take the point completely. It's a role that you've got to step up to. And you've got to understand what it is that you're going to be involved with.

MORGAN: I want to turn, before we finish, to Twitter. Because you're not even on the Internet, are you? You don't use e-mail, text messaging. You wouldn't even know what Twitter is, would you?

DEELEY: No. It's got something to do with bird song?

MORGAN: But you, Lord Sugar, have become my sworn enemy on Twitter. So American viewers who have been perturbed by this, wondering who you are, can now see you in all your glory.

SUGAR: Who I am, to correct your opening titles here, I'm the person that actually coached you to win the U.S. "Apprentice."

MORGAN: Exactly. Andrew helped me win. To be fair, it was more Andrew.

SUGAR: I don't think so.

MORGAN: You gave advice. He gave hard prizes.

SUGAR: I told you how to box Donald into a corner. It was a live program and he couldn't get out of it. You have to admit that. Anyway, but the thing is -- the thing is I first announced I was going on Twitter to you by e-mail. You called me a Twit, only idiots go on there. Then you came on afterwards. You sat on the back of all my followers, because of the banter that you've had.

You then got my followers. And you got this obsession now, this illness, really.

MORGAN: Can I ask one question. Have I or have I not completely obliterated you in the number of followers.

SUGAR: Only -- it's only because you've been soliciting every American.

MORGAN: It's a simple question.

DEELEY: Can I ask a question? How many followers do you have?

DEELEY: I have 600,000. And I've passed that during this interview.

DEELEY: Lord?

SUGAR: I have 470,000 or something like that.

MORGAN: I am literally thirty percent more popular.

DEELEY: I have none.

MORGAN: All it gives me is bragging rights over Lord Sugar, which, in its own way, is a great prize to follow.

Let's try to wrestle this back to probably the more important issue of tomorrow and the wedding. What would you thoughts be for the happy couple?

SUGAR: Well, they've got to be happy on the day. They will be happy on the day. I really hope that they can keep their head, keep their humanity, and try and find a way of locking themselves -- well, I don't want to use word locking themselves -- find some of their own time.

Because they have a hell of a life ahead of them, really. As I said earlier on, I don't envy that, to be honest, because they're in the public light.

But look, from what I've seen so far, they look a really happy couple. I hope they stay like that. She looks a lovely lady. And he's a nice guy.

MORGAN: If someone like you can find a woman to last 40 years with, as you recently did, anybody can. Andrew, what would your wishes for the happy couple be?

DEELEY: I hope that they have real happiness and also bringing humanity to other people, and being able to do their unique situation with a bit of joy, to be able to bring something that really lifts other people out of their own condition. That's what I would hope.

Sounds a bit pompous, but I really would hope that -- you're so lucky in life if you find what you want to do and then you're successful at being able to do it, like both Alan and I have been. I just hope that they have that success with something that they can do to bring --

MORGAN: The love of a good woman can never be underestimated, can it, however successful or rich you are.

SUGAR: No, it can't.

MORGAN: We're all batting way above our strength, I would argue, knowing the three ladies concerned.

SUGAR: It's fantastic to have someone close to you who's always there there.

MORGAN: I agree. Lords, your lordships -- what do I call you, your lordships?

DEELEY: It's a gaggle of lords.

MORGAN: A gaggle of lords. Well, thank you to my gaggle today, very much indeed.

Coming up, the only way I could possibly beat two British lords was to bring in a genuine member of the European Royal Family, Weighing in on William and Kate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM: We'll sort of get over the marriage thing first, and then maybe look at the kids. Obviously, we want a family. So we'll have to start thinking about that.

MIDDLETON: It's very important to me. I hope we'll be able to have a happy family ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: The morning of the big wedding, an announcement will be made about whether William and Kate will take new titles. Joining me now is someone who knows all about royalty and titles. He is a royal, his royal highness, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia.

You're obviously a close friend of all the British royal family. You're actually going to be dining with her majesty, the queen.

Tell me about the royal family from somebody who knows them in a way most of us could only dream of.

CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER II, SERBIA: The royal family are perfectly normal people. They're very warm people. The queen is the most extraordinary person. She was my Godmother and her father was my Godfather. And they've been very good to me over the many years.

But dining and even having a breakfast -- wedding breakfast, is wonderful with them. They're very relaxed people.

MORGAN: Can it ever be relaxing to have dinner with the queen, her majesty, the queen?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: Oh, I assure you, she's an amazing lady with great conversation and incredible knowledge. I think the media, of course, make things a little difficult for them. But otherwise, it's perfectly normal.

MORGAN: I guess the media relationship is kind a love-hate thing, isn't it? Because the royal family need the media in some ways. It's just the attention can be overwhelming.

PRINCE ALEXANDER: The attention is very big. Of course, for this wedding, it's enormous. It's even more I think than the last big one in 1981, because nowadays you have Internet, which speeds everything up, and all these social sites.

MORGAN: You were at the wedding in '81.

PRINCE ALEXANDER: Yes, I was.

MORGAN: How do you see? Any comparisons between what happened there and what's going on?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: I think they're about the same size, except for more technology nowadays.

MORGAN: What do you think of Prince William? What kind of man is he?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: I think he's a great young man and dearly loved by not only the people in the United Kingdom but the world. He's a great sports person. He's a great soldier. I think he's going to do very, very well in the future. And he's chosen the most beautiful bride. She's sweet. She's lovely.

MORGAN: Have you met Kate yet?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: Yes, we did at one of the occasions. They're a great couple, fantastic.

MORGAN: Is it very intimidating to come into the royal family?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: It's not easy. It's much easier nowadays, because people are more relaxed. But can you imagine 50, 60 years ago how difficult it must have been for somebody like Prince Phillip marrying the queen? Not easy.

But today, it's more modern. People are much more open. And people talk more.

MORGAN: Tell me, you have a fascinating story about how you managed to remain a Serbian royal, because you were born in Claridges Hotel in London, just around the corner from this studio. And they actually flew in Serbian soil so that you could be born on Serbian soil. Is that right?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: It's rather extraordinary. The patriarch of Serbia came with the soil and put it under the bed. There were even two representatives of Tito to make sure it was for sure, there was no cheating.

MORGAN: Your parents were in exile at the time.

PRINCE ALEXANDER: They were in exile, because the Germans had invaded the continent. And there were many other royals in exile here, like Queen Willamina, King George of Greece.

After I was born, two years later, I was made an enemy of the state. I was very dangerous at two. So I lost my nationality and it was very difficult to travel around. And then some very bright person discovered I was a descendent of Sophie of Hanneberg (ph), an act of Parliament of 1789, and I got a British passport, which made things much easier.

And then go fast forward, after everything settled down and democracy came to Serbia, our minister of the interior came to Claridges and in room 212 gave me back -- and to my wife and the three boys -- our nationalities. So we did a complete circle.

MORGAN: So you're officially Serbian again?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: Yes.

MORGAN: On the big day itself, how do the royals handle it? Obviously, everyone's eyes, two billion pairs of eyes, are on certain key people in the family. I'm always amazed how they keep their cool. Do they have a kind of routine, do you think, that they keep by?

PRINCE ALEXANDER: After a few years, you become sort of vaccinated, no doubt about it.

MORGAN: Prince Charles, no one is talking much about him this week. And yet he has --

PRINCE ALEXANDER: He's not getting married.

MORGAN: But he's been a wonderful father.

PRINCE ALEXANDER: Amazing. Amazing. He's been wonderful. Also the duchess of Cornwall has been wonderful. They're a close nit family. They really are, contrary to what some of the media says. They work together and they love each other.

MORGAN: Your highness, thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure. My first bona fide royal. Thank you.

PRINCE ALEXANDER: Thank you.

MORGAN: Coming up, the latest on the storms that have devastated America's south.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Make sure you tune in tomorrow morning when we'll have every second of the royal wedding, beginning at 4:00 a.m. Eastern, followed by all the highlights on a special two-hour edition of PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT, the royal wedding, tomorrow night.

Let's go back to America's south for the latest on the twister devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Piers, to give you a little background information, I grew up in the state of Alabama, started my television career in the state. And I have covered a bunch of tornadic events, but nothing like this.

This is absolute devastation. You see a few houses that are still standing. Some of them completely destroyed. The tornado came through here with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. Widespread damage. And I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for people sheltered in some of these houses and buildings, how scary it must have been for them.

Thankfully, we have one person who is a survivor of the storm. She actually was over in these apartments. Your name is Morgan Higdin (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell me your story?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we had been watching the news, so we knew that there was a tornado coming, but we weren't sure where exactly it was going to hit. But I was with my friend, Dylan Butler, and my dog. And we had grabbed some couch cushions and brought them to the bathroom, in case we needed to go take cover.

And while we were standing in the living room, the cable went out. And then we heard children on the balcony start screaming that the tornado was coming. So it got really loud and we ran as fast as we could to the bathroom. I was on the second floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you see it from here? Can you see the building?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I'm on the other side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But just similar to these buildings, basically the same type.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like that one that doesn't have a wall or a roof, that's what mine looks like now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My goodness. Any kind of warning at all though?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was. The tornado sirens did go off. I think the last one we heard went off about 15 minutes before it hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From start to finish, how long do you think the process took?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it was probably over with in 20 seconds. It was a very terrifying 20 seconds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing. Good luck to you. You're very, very fortunate. Thank you so much.

The situation that we've been seeing here has played out in many places around the southeast United States, obviously Alabama, into Mississippi, into Georgia, the Carolinas, even Tennessee.

This is just the beginning of the severe weather season. So the possibility of seeing more situations like this unfold certainly a likelihood. Piers?

MORGAN: That's all for us tonight. Now here's "AC 360."