‘Woke’ Harry and Meghan put Oprah interview before ailing Prince Philip

How could a TV interview — and one you will clearly be playing second fiddle in — be more important than your ailing grandfather, asks Louise Roberts.

Within the Hollywood showbiz cocoon, you can slather lip gloss on anything and make it shine. That’s why we have the oft-quoted expression Hollywood dreams.

Irresistible on the surface and awash with cash, but underneath a sinewy mass of selfish snakes and busted moral compasses.

Queen Meghan and Prince Harry only have a platform in the US because they are royal even though being royal is the thing that seems to chafe them the most.

As tightly as they grasp their respective titles of Duchess and Duke of Sussex (not surrendering them, no siree), their giddy narrative of bravely fleeing the nasty, fuddy duddy Windsors would seem to be the perfect Hallmark greeting card-style fodder for an American audience wanting a nose around behind the palace curtain.

Megan and Harry. Picture: Getty

Except that in their efforts to be “real”, Megs and Haz have overlooked a critical element that appeals to Americans as it does to us here and to the citizens of the UK and beyond.

Family. It is the Windsor brand for sure, the most famous of clans, but also for the rest of us who recognise that indiscretions and humiliations aside, family is still the anchor.

It is the bedrock of respect and identification so it remains bewildering that Meghan and Harry want to put as much distance as possible ­between their blood relatives and themselves.

None of us were really that surprised when Buckingham Palace announced last week that the pair could not possibly continue with “the ­responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service”.

(While at the same time, of course, chasing commercial interests in a manner akin to the pursuit of wild foxes Harry once upon a time shot for sport.)

Gone are their remaining titles and privileges in sport, arts, the Commonwealth and, in an acid blow, the military titles that seemed embedded in Harry’s DNA.

Typical of their unfortunate lack of ability to read the room, to use a phrase that zips around their woke orbit, the Sussdashians’ instant ­response was to passive-aggressively PR the whole decision from their ­perspective.

Megan and Harry have left the royal fold for good. Picture: Getty

They would still “live a life of ­service” outside the royal fold, with the scorpion sting being: “Service is universal.”

Ergo, Hollywood values and family do not align.

Not a thank you to the Queen for any of it — the indulgence and I would argue the endurance of their world-altering mission which in their minds far outweighs anything that could possibly be achieved while being a working royal.

Meeting a Commonwealth army veteran or a real family over charity shop scones, jam and cream in ­drizzle-bound Slough arguably would carry more generational authenticity than an eco fireside chat with Oprah.

Sure, according to reports there’s a (naturally) private jet fully tanked and ready to carbon emission its way over to England to see Prince Philip who, at 99, remains in hospital “under supervision”.

Harry is also thought to be in ­isolation of sorts at their LA palace — sorry, home — in the event he needs to dash back to The Firm.

Harry and Megan have left the royal family for a new life in the US. Picture: Getty.

But the question remains — why is he not already there, instead leaving it to his father Prince Charles?

How could a TV interview — and one you will clearly be playing second fiddle in — be more important than your ailing grandfather?

Striving to be woke does not ­absolve you of eye watering rudeness.

Their petulant response to the Queen signing off on full Megxit, turning their backs and rebuking Her Majesty meant their rattles were well and truly chucked out of the Silver Cross pram.

With the Oprah interview looming on March 7 and suggestions that the Windsors should get ready to “hide behind the sofa at the palace” such is the bombshell nature of revelations the Sussex will lob like self-righteous grenades, the real story here is a miserable one.

According to a statement from CBS, “Winfrey will speak with Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, in a wide-ranging interview, covering everything from stepping into life as a royal, marriage, motherhood, philanthropic work to how she is handling life under intense public pressure.

“Later, the two are joined by Prince Harry as they speak about their move to the United States and their future hopes and dreams for their expanding family.”

The Duchess and Duke with their son, Archie. Picture: Getty.

We’ve heard their side of the storm. We get they felt trapped in the realm of royal duty.

But they are not finding freedom as they are wont to preach in sound bites, they are finding exile.

They are fast approaching the point that, with all the financial juice wrung out of the tasty morsels of regal and aristocratic life (and that barrel bottom will soon be scraped), all that will be left on the table for sale will be their souls.

And who scoops you up when you have nothing left to offer the disappearing fans?

Family.

Who? Yes those people you turned your back on for something apparently much better.