The airing of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell interview would have been postponed if the Duke of Edinburgh had died, a friend of Meghan has said.
US breakfast show host Gayle King said the couple’s chat with Oprah Winfrey was recorded and scheduled before Philip was admitted to hospital in February.
King made the comments on her SiriusXM show last Thursday after a listener called in to say the timing of the interview was “terrible” as Philip was receiving treatment when it aired.
“Just so you know, they had done that interview before Prince Phillip went into the hospital,” King said on her radio show.
“And if something, God forbid, had happened to him, the interview would not have run at this particular time.
“But the interview was done and was scheduled before he went into the hospital. But a lot of people have raised that point.”
Philip, 99, left the private King Edward VII’s hospital in central London on Tuesday after a month-long stay receiving treatment.
He was initially receiving care for an infection but then underwent heart surgery for a pre-existing condition.
Speaking on her radio show, King said Meghan and Harry had “been through so much” over the past three years and “really have tried to work it out privately”.
She added: “They really have tried to get help, and nothing was working.
“So I think they wanted people to have some understanding about why they made the decision that they made and what they’ve been going through, and I do think that they accomplished that. I do.”
The Sussexes’ explosive interview saw them talk about the pressures of their former lives before they stepped down as working royals and moved to America.
The couple also accused an unnamed member of the royal family – not the Queen or Philip – of raising concerns about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone would be before he was born.
King claimed on TV on Tuesday that the royal family had taken their first steps towards a reconciliation with the couple, but initial talks were “not productive”.
.@GayleKing checked in with Prince Harry & Meghan this weekend:
“Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father, too. The word I was given was those conversations were not productive. But they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.” pic.twitter.com/fe0ATukkYw— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 16, 2021
She suggested that despite the conversations not bearing fruit, the Sussexes were “glad” dialogue had started and the couple wanted “healing” within the royal family.
King, who was among Meghan’s closest friends invited to her 2019 baby shower in New York, said on CBS This Morning: “I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling and it’s true Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too.
“The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive but they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.”
Buckingham Palace previously said the issues raised in Harry and Meghan’s interview, especially over race, were “concerning” and would be addressed by the Queen and her family privately.
