The commercial breaks for the US broadcast of Oprah with Meghan and Harry carried prescription drug ads that warned “may cause diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting” - all sensations familiar to Buckingham Palace aides within minutes of tuning in.
By the time the interview of the century landed on ITV 20 hours later, we were all well-versed in its contents. But it was no less mesmerising for that.
Over two jaw-dropping hours, Meghan and Harry burned their bridges while Oprah handed them the matches. The interview was brilliantly edited down from three-and-a-half hours of footage so that not a minute went by without a killer quote or major revelation.
Oprah is a master interviewer. She has perfected the tone and the look: a warm-hearted headmistress who loves her charges but won’t stand for any nonsense.
Put some of her questions in the mouth of Jeremy Paxman or Emma Barnett and they would seem confrontational: “You were marrying the monarchy, what did you think it was going to be like?” “Did you make Kate cry?” But from Oprah, they’re invitations to - as the Californians would say - speak your truth.