ITV says it 'will drop' the £1 million Prince Harry and Meghan interview with Oprah Winfrey if Prince Phillip's health continues to deteriorate.
It comes as the broadcaster upped its bid from £500,000 to secure the rights to air the interview in the UK, just one day after it airs in the US.
The interview will see Harry and Meghan discussing their lives as royals as well as after they stopped performing their duties as working royals and moved to California.
But with the Duke of Edinburgh in hospital, aged 99, it is thought ITV is ready to pull the plug should Prince Philip deteriorate, as Birmingham Live reports.
Sources say the mood at Buckingham Palace has "shifted" after the Duke was transferred to a new hospital earlier this week, on Monday, according to reports.
The interview, spanning two hours, will air on CBS in the United States on Sunday evening, it has been reported.
The Oprah interview follows Meghan and Harry enjoying a comedic chat with Late Late Show host James Corden last week.
The Palace is reportedly "united" in "praying" for the Duke after he was transferred across London on March 1.
Public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski warned that Harry and Meghan are at risk of a "real reputational mess" if they go ahead with the broadcast in the US on Sunday.
Harry's grandfather Philip spent nearly two weeks in the private King Edward VII's Hospital before being transferred to St Bartholomew's Hospital on Monday for tests on a pre-existing heart condition.
Questions have been raised about the appropriateness of Harry and Meghan's interview, which chat show queen Oprah Winfrey promising it will be "shocking" with "nothing off limits".
Mr Borkowski said a deterioration in Philip's health would also raise serious issues for ITV as to whether the screening should go ahead in the UK, and could cause problems for advertisers airing commercials during the programme.
"I think brands have to take a considered view about whether they want their advertising anywhere near this," he said.
