Millions of people around the world are expected to tune in for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, amid an ongoing royal row that's been compared to 'episodes of a soap opera'.
The interview will be broadcast in more than 70 countries, including Ireland.
The two-hour interview will air on CBS on Sunday night in the States, despite calls for it to be postponed while Prince Philip recovers in hospital after surgery.
It will then be screened on RTÉ Two at 9:30pm on Monday.
In the UK, the interview’s reported to have sparked a bidding war - with ITV ultimately securing the rights to screen it.
Brief teaser clips shared by CBS see Meghan accuse the palace (nicknamed ‘The Firm’) of “perpetuating falsehoods” against her and her husband.
“There’s a lot that’s been lost already.”
CBS Presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A Primetime Special this Sunday at 8/7c. #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/iKFjiVP3IH— CBS (@CBS) March 4, 2021
The interview was recorded before Buckingham Palace announced it was investigating claims that Meghan bullied staff.
Harry and Meghan's biographer, Omid Scobie, has questioned the motives behind the bullying inquiry.
Speaking to BBC, he said the inquiry comes despite the institution remaining 'dead silent' around the allegations against Prince Andrew and questions about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
'You're talking about real people'
Newstalk’s Sinead Ryan told Lunchtime Live she has always followed royal families across Europe.
However, she said the current situation with the British royals is now becoming a “like the latest episode of a soap opera, and that’s to its detriment”.
She said: “At the heart of this, you’re talking about real people.
“OK, they’re not like us: they are hugely privileged, but they are still people with children, husbands & wifes, brothers & sisters… except they have to do it in the public eye.”
However, Sinead doesn’t believe Meghan would have been prepared for the experience of becoming a British royal.
She observed: "As an American, royalty and celebrity are interchangeable, it seems to me… they’re just famous people who wear nice gowns and cut ribbons.
“The way the Queen in Britain is revered… Meghan just wouldn’t have understood the history and tradition that goes with that.
“She didn’t understand her life would be restricted to smiling, cutting ribbons, doing what you’re told… that’s what that life is like.”
Sinead said she believes Meghan didn’t understand how she’d be very restricted about how she could speak out about subjects such as Black Lives Matter and the empowerment of women.
