Orlando Bloom’s mother has leapt to his defence after he used the word "pikey" on national radio.

Sonia Copeland Bloom said her son had used the term on Nick Grimshaw’s Radio 1 breakfast show "in a spirit of affection".

The Lord of the Rings star, 40, found himself at the centre of a race storm after the interview two weeks ago. The BBC was forced to apologise afterwards.

“I think anyone listening would have known it was said jokingly about the place where he was born and bred,” Mrs Copeland Bloom wrote in a letter published in our sister paper the Kentish Gazette.

“Orlando, I feel sure, was referring to the fact he enjoys mixing with people from all walks of life.

“He is a friendly, courteous, respectful guy, happy to meet, chat, sign autographs and take selfies with anyone who asks.”

Bloom, who went to private school St Edmund’s and developed a love of acting at the city’s Marlowe Theatre, had been discussing his latest film on the breakfast show when he was asked if he still performed his own stunts.

He replied: “I’m still a pikey from Kent, boy. I’m still a pikey from Kent.

"Orlando, I feel sure, was referring to the fact he enjoys mixing with people from all walks of life" - Sonia Copeland Bloom

“You don’t want to get on the wrong side of me, boy.”

Bloom faced a backlash and was branded “a fool” by gypsy leaders in last week’s Gazette as the term is widely deemed derogatory towards gypsies and travellers.

Mrs Copeland Bloom added: “Orlando loves Canterbury, his home town, and I know many people, as I do, wish he could visit the city a little more often, as his home is now in LA.

“As a proud father, parental share with his young son understandably takes priority over everything.

“Nevertheless, he retains many links with Canterbury as well as happy memories of his childhood here.”

In 2010 a Millwall fan was cleared of racial abuse for yelling at a Gillingham player "get up you pikey" after a court heard home fans used the term to refer to themselves.