Harry and Meghan would have postponed Oprah interview if Prince Philip died, Gayle King reveals

Duke of Edinburgh returned home Tuesday after four weeks in hospital

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly had plans to postpone the airing of their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey if Prince Philip died.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s contingency plan was revealed by Winfrey’s close friend Gayle King during her Sirius XM show, Gayle King in the House, where the CBS This Morning host revealed that the interview would not have run if Prince Harry’s grandfather had died.

Prince Philip was admitted to the hospital on 16 February for treatment of an infection, at which point royal experts suggested that it would be “appropriate” for the couple to move back the interview release on 7 March.

While the couple did not postpone the interview - which was filmed before the Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to the hospital - they reportedly would have if the 99-year-old had passed away, according to King.

“Well, just so you know, they had done that interview before Prince Phillip went into the hospital,” King said, according to People. “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.”

Prince Philip returned home to Windsor Castle on Tuesday after spending four weeks in the hospital, with Buckingham Palace releasing a statement expressing the duke’s gratitude for the care he received from medical staff.

Read more:

• Prince William speaks to Harry for first time since Oprah interview but talks ‘unproductive’
• Kate Middleton ‘mortified’ by Meghan Markle telling Oprah she made her cry
• Kate Middleton can’t vote, and other everyday things she’s not allowed to do

“His Royal Highness wishes to thank all the medical staff who looked after him at both King Edward VII’s Hospital and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and everyone who has sent their good wishes,” the statement said.

As for why she believes the duke and duchess decided to partake in the interview with Winfrey, which saw the couple discuss racism, parenting, and their decisions to step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family, King said she thinks the couple had tried “to get help” but “nothing was working”.

“I think that Harry and Meghan both have been through so much for the past three years and they really have tried to work it out privately. They really have tried to get help, and nothing was working,” she said. “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.”

During the radio show, the morning show host also said that she thinks the couple was “brave” for revealing what they did, with King adding that she hopes it will “lead to change”.

“I think it was very brave of her and Harry to reveal what they did. It’s unheard of, and it certainly has been a ‘bombshell,’ is the word...but I do believe it was an honest conversation,” she said. “I’m hoping it will lead to change.”

King’s comments come after she previously claimed that Winfrey had not been paying close attention to the public reaction to the tell-all interview, revealing on This Morning that she had to call her close friend to inform her that “this thing is blowing up”.