Twitter users have been reacting after Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade was accused of trying to link Prince Philip’s death with Meghan Markle’s bombshell Oprah interview.
Hours after the news of Prince Philips’ death broke on April 9, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade claimed there were reports that Prince Philip, 99, “was enraged” after learning about Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah. Kilmeade suggested that his Fox & Friends colleagues “factor in” that Philip “gets hit with” news of the bombshell interview while he was struggling to recover from heart surgery.
“If you factor in this [the interview], there are reports that he [Philip] was enraged after the interview and the fallout from the interview with Oprah Winfrey… so, here he is trying to recover, and then he gets hit with that,” the TV host said (see video below).
He also cited the former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, who reportedly said the timing of the interview was ill-considered.
Kilmeade then concluded that the interview added to Philip’s stress (see video below), leading to his death.
“Evidently, it definitely added to his [Philip’s] stress,” he said.
Some Twitter users slammed Kilmeade
Kilmeade appearing to suggest that Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah might have added to Philip’s stress leading to his death sparked a debate on Twitter.
Some Twitter users derided the suggestion that the Oprah interview “enraged” Philip and that the rage might have added to his stress by pointing out that Buckingham Palace released a statement that Philip died “peacefully” and not in a rage.
Monsters and Critics reported the Queen was said to have been at Prince Philip’s bedside when he died on Friday (April 9) at the age of 99.
“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the statement released by Buckingham Palace read.
“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” the statement added.
Other Twitter users appeared to agree with Kilmeade
However, some Twitter users appeared to agree with Kilmeade that Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah “added to [Prince Philip’s] stress.”
“No doubt that interview was hard on Prince Phillip when he was sick in the hospital and couldn’t support his Queen and the Monarchy he [spent] most of his life serving,” Twitter user @Peopleafteru wrote. “Tasteless of Meghan and Harry to have their self-serving interview while he was so sick in the hospital.”
Markle isn’t attending Philip’s funeral because she ‘doesn’t want to be the center of attention’
The latest social media controversy comes after Monsters and Critics reported that sources close to Meghan Markle said she didn’t travel to London with Harry to attend Prince Philip’s funeral because she didn’t “want to be the center of attention.”
Prince Harry arrived in the U.K. on Sunday. He was spotted disembarking a BA flight at London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday around 1:15GMT, after he was seen leaving his home in Montecito, California on Saturday (April 10) night.