The timing of Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview is “terrible,” according to a public relations expert.
The timing of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's divisive interview with Oprah Winfrey is “horrendous,” according to a public relations specialist, and the screening should be delayed because the Duke of Edinburgh is ill.
Mark Borkowski, a public relations and crisis strategist, cautioned that if Harry and Meghan go ahead with the broadcast in the United States on Sunday, they face a “real reputational mess.”
Harry's grandfather Philip, 99, was moved to St Bartholomew's Hospital on Monday for tests on a pre-existing heart condition after nearly two weeks in the private King Edward VII's Hospital.
The appropriateness of Harry and Meghan's interview, which chat show queen Winfrey has vowed would be “shocking” with “nothing off limits,” has been questioned.
“The timing is just horrendous,” Mr Borkowski told the PA news agency.
“Anyone looking at this through the eyes of a caring family, even if they are estranged from one another, it's very unsettling as Sunday approaches.”
Trending:
According to MailOnline, ITV has secured the bidding war to broadcast the interview in a deal worth around £1 million.
The two-hour CBS special will air in the United States on Sunday and in the United Kingdom on Monday, March 8.
“This could be a real reputational mess for everyone involved,” Mr Borkowski said.
“Harry and Meghan are supposed to be a brand that is sensitive, caring, and empathetic,” says the source.
“Surely the upheaval, especially to the Queen… However, they plan to continue with this juggernaut.”
Mr Borkowski said Harry and Meghan's fate would be “in the lap of the gods” if Philip's health deteriorated.
“You would show huge empathy by postponing if you were strategically giving advice about mitigating reputational damage,” he said.
A drop in Philip's wellbeing, according to Mr Borkowski, will raise significant questions for ITV on whether the screening should go ahead in the UK, as well as issues for advertisers airing advertisements during the broadcast.
“I believe brands must consider whether they want their advertising to be anywhere near this,” he said.
When the Sussexes address their life as members of the royal family and their separation from the functioning monarchy, the royal household will be prepared for the show's revelations.
Winfrey asks Meghan whether she was “silent or silenced” in dramatic promo clips, but the duchess' response is not revealed.
In response to the duchess's remark, Winfrey asks, “Almost unsurvivable.” Isn't it possible that there was a tipping point?
“I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you, with my wife by my side, because I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her (Diana), going through this process all those years ago,” Harry says of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, while holding Meghan's hand.
“Just to make it clear to everybody, there is no subject that is off-limits,” Winfrey says in the trailer, as Meghan nods in agreement.
Top stories:
