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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Darren Lewis

'Critics call Meghan and Harry heartless over Prince Philip - nothing could be more wrong'

As if they haven’t thought already about Prince Harry’s stricken grandfather.

As if Harry and Meghan aren’t acutely aware of just how counter-productive it would be for their interview with Oprah Winfrey to be released on Sunday night, should the worst happen to Prince Philip.

Predictably (doesn’t this all just get so exhausting?), their critics still want to frame them as heartless, shameless and dismissive of the Duke of Edinburgh’s ill-health when the truth is that all parties will be monitoring the situation with a view to remaining respectful.

Of course they’d pull it if Harry were to lose his grandfather. Of course they’d delay it in order for them all to pay their respects.

The truth is, in the eyes of their detractors, there will never be a good time for Harry and Meghan to tell their own story, their own way.

What is your view? Have your say in the comments section

Harry and Meghan are ready to tell their story, their own way (CBS)

There will always be someone they’ve disrespected, something they’ve shamefully ignored, some element of British society they’ve stuck two fingers up at.

The level of toxicity they are battling against right now is exactly the reason why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided - after all that happened with Harry losing his mother as a child - that enough was enough.

In some quarters it borders on an obsession. A vendetta, even though we get the point.

You don’t have to like the Royals to be uncomfortable about the territory the whole thing has been in for some time now.

VIEWERS 'SWITCH OFF' PIERS MORGAN AS HE ZOOMS IN ON MEGHAN MARKLE'S 'ANGRY' FACE IN PHOTO

This column is far from a flag-waving cheerleader of the people presented as being closer to God than us.

And yet they represent the kind of things we want for our children - freedom of expression, the right to mark your boundaries, the importance of mental health and speaking truth to power.

Millions of the people not brainwashed into hating them are sympathetic to their determination not to accept the way that her character has been assassinated.

Every little victory for Meghan has them pushing open palms into the air in support. They are all for the former Suits actress speaking her truth.

Prince Philip is facing his toughest health battle yet (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Wily old Oprah knew just how to tantalise us over here with her insistence that the interview - recorded last week - was the best she’d ever done.

Considering she has done some belters in her time during her 30 years behind the microphone that is some going.

Yet her relationship with Meghan and her mother, Doria, is such that none of them - nor the American broadcaster CBS - would want a scenario played out in which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were portrayed as uncaring and unfeeling.

They’ll be monitoring Prince Philip’s condition closely. We in the wider public won’t know what the situation is (it can’t be too clever if he has been in hospital this long) but Harry and Meghan will know.

They care. For all those convinced Meghan only started jetting around the world preaching about politics and morality once she hitched her wagon to Harry’s, the emergence on social media of an old interview she did with the late Larry King is quite the riposte.

In it, she spoke about a visit she’d made to Rwanda and about the women she’d encountered, forced to step up and mobilize in the wake of the genocide of the country’s men.

The issues she remains strong on are principles that have shaped her as a woman, principles forming the foundations of their relationship and endearing her to the younger generation.

Harry only cares about Meghan, say his critics.

Good. So he should. She’s his wife. She’s his family now. We care about our parents and siblings - many of whom we can’t choose, sadly - in a very different way.

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