Is Prince Philip’s emergency heart surgery due to the accusations of killing Lady Di or new allegations from Meghan Markle?!

Defiant ITV releases first branded clip of Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview as couple insist it WILL go ahead after CBS sells show to 64 countries despite backlash over ‘lack of respect’ for Prince Philip as he recovers from heart surgery in hospital

• ITV releases trailer at 4pm today ahead of two-hour Oprah show which is set to air next Monday from 9pm  
• Buckingham Palace says at 1pm today that Commonwealth programme will be on BBC One on Sunday at 5pm 
• Duchess of Sussex is seen in new clip sitting alone as she claims the Royal Family is ‘perpetuating falsehoods’
• She said that, despite the risk of ‘losing things’, she felt that ‘there is a lot that has been lost already’
• The clip, recorded several weeks ago, aired on the day Buckingham Palace announced a bullying inquiry 
• Hours later it emerged that Harry’s grandfather Prince Philip, 99, has undergone heart surgery in hospital

By MARTIN ROBINSON and MARK DUELL FOR MAILONLINE

ITV has released its first branded clip of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey as the broadcaster vows to release the two-hour show despite Prince Philip’s ongoing health problems.

The channel released a trailer at 4pm today ahead of the two-hour show next Monday, which featured the same footage put out by CBS in the early hours of this morning – but this time with ITV’s branding in the corner.

The video clip from Meghan and Harry’s interview – which was filmed last month in California, and has been licensed by CBS owner ViacomCBS to be shown in 63 countries in addition to Britain and the US – saw the Duchess say she could not be expected to stay silent if the royal family played a part in ‘perpetuating falsehoods’ about her and Prince Harry.

ITV has faced furious backlash at its decision to push ahead with broadcasting the interview while Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather Prince Philip  recovers from heart surgery in hospital – where he is set to remain ‘for a number of days’.

Today’s clip was in an updated press release – which had first been issued with words only at 12pm yesterday – with ITV confirming in a tweet today: ‘Oprah With Meghan and Harry broadcasts at 9pm on Monday, March 8 on ITV.’

The interview will first be shown by CBS in the US at 1am UK time on Sunday night. Meanwhile Buckingham Palace said at 1pm today that a special Commonwealth programme would be aired just hours beforehand on the BBC.

The Queen and the Royal Family have turned their attention to the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic for the show which will be on BBC One in the UK and globally on the BBC’s YouTube channel from 5pm on Sunday.

Meghan’s ramping up of the war of words with the palace came as:

• Buckingham Palace says it is ‘very concerned’ about claims Meghan mistreated staff and allegations some were forced out and others left ‘shaking’ and sobbing because of her alleged ’emotional cruelty and manipulation’
• A royal insider scotched hopes they could one day return for royal events such as Trooping the Colour, saying: ‘I can’t ever see those two back on the balcony’;
• New claims that Meghan ‘hissed’ at staff and reduced one aide to tears on a royal tour emerge;
• Lawyers for the Sussexes have vehemently denied they have bullied or mistreated staff; 
• The Metropolitan Police says it will not open a criminal investigation into claims BBC journalist Martin Bashir conned Harry’s mother Princess Diana into the infamous 1995 Panorama interview;