The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey would have been postponed if Prince Philip had died, a friend of Meghan has said.

Gayle King, who hosts a breakfast show in the US, leapt to the couple’s defence after a listener on her radio programme called in to describe the timing of the TV broadcast as “terrible”.

King replied: “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 Harry and Meghan faced widespread criticism for the timing of their revealing sitdown, which attracted tens of millions of viewers when it was broadcast in the UK.

It came as the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, was recuperating in hospital after undergoing a procedure for a pre-existing heart condition.

Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle was one of those who condemned the couple.

He told Good Morning Britain last week: “They went way over the top with it, these stories with Oprah, and should have waited.

“Considering the Queen’s age and Philip’s age, they certainly should have waited or tried to wait.”

Prince Philip left King Edward VII’s Hospital on Tuesday after spending a month as an inpatient.

During the interview, Meghan and Harry 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.

Earlier this week, King claimed that Harry had spoken to his family for the first time since the interview, but the talks were “not productive”.

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Speaking on CBS This Morning, the journalist said: “It’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too, and the word I was given was that those conversations were not productive, but they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.”

King, who herself is best friends with Oprah Winfrey, was among those who attended Meghan’s baby shower in New York back in 2019.

In explaining why Harry and Meghan wanted to do the interview, she told her radio listeners that the couple had “been through so much” over the past three years and “really have tried to work it out privately”.

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King 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.”

Buckingham Palace said following last week’s interview: “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”

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