Today’s the day: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s explosive, “no subject off limits” interview with Oprah Winfrey is set to air. It’s already being billed as the interview of the year (if not the decade), so here’s how to watch it in Australia. Popcorn at the ready, folks.
The lucky ducks over at Channel 10 must be smug as hell they’re owned by US television network CBS, because it means they’ve scored the interview.
Oprah With Meghan And Harry: A CBS Primetime Special (which is the official name) will air on Channel 10 at 7.30pm on Monday night.
You’ll also be able to watch it on 10 Play later on, if you decide to prioritise MAFS tonight.
CBS reportedly paid more than US $7 million (AU $9.1 million) for the interview; however, Meghan and Harry were not paid to take part. Just in case you were wondering if they were cashing in on the drama.
“I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the Firm [a.k.a. the PALACE] is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” Meghan tells Oprah in a clip released by CBS.
“And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean I — there’s a lot that’s been lost already.”
In another clip, Meghan explains why she turned down an interview with Oprah in 2018, ahead of her royal wedding.
“I couldn’t have said yes to you then, that wasn’t my choice to make,” she says.
“We’re on the other side of a lot of life experience that’s happened and also that we have the ability to make our own choices in a way,” she shared. “So as an adult who lived a really independent life to then go into this construct that is different than I think what people imagine it to be, it’s really liberating to be able to have the right and the privilege in some ways to be able to say yes. I mean, I’m ready to talk.”
Talk about what, exactly? Hopefully: everything. Gossip about the Queen, feuds between Princes Harry and William, feuds between Meghan and Kate, and every other kind of drama there is have been hitting the British press for years – a media landscape which is harmful at best, and deeply racist at worst.
Somewhat annoyingly, the interview will air in the US at midday AEST, so we’ll be seeing live reactions and reports before we get to air it. No spoilers, I guess?
All eyes are on the how the Royal family responds to this interview, and whether or not they survive it. Queen Elizabeth is reportedly not watching, but you can bet some staffer is tasked with preparing the briefing notes for afterwards.
This feels a little like we’re living through Princess Diana‘s famous Panorama interview, where she uttered this iconic line about her husband Prince Charles‘ affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
It’s going to be a wild one. Strap in.
