Prince Harry and Prince William were once brothers who loved each other dearly, but their relationship looks different these days. It’s been reported that they haven’t spoken since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, and sadly, very little indicates that the brothers will make amends.
Though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to leave royal life behind, twice this year they have embarked on journeys to other countries: Colombia and Nigeria. The couple have been welcomed as royals in both places, reportedly making William and their father, King Charles, furious.
With William next in line to the throne, there is reportedly already a plan for his coronation at some point down the line. Given the present acrimony, it’s being suggested that William won’t invite his brother to his coronation.
The feud between the royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, peaked when Harry released his book, Spare, in January last year. The Duke lashed out at almost every senior Royal Family member, including his brother, Prince William. Harry even gave a detailed insight into one of the biggest fights of his life.
Prince Harry detailed physical attack by Prince William in book ‘Spare’
It happened in 2019 at his London home, where Harry wrote that he and William had a physical confrontation. The Duke claimed William had called his wife, Meghan, “abrasive,” “rude,” and “difficult,” something Harry called “parroting the press narrative.”
It escalated, and Harry described how William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and… knocked me to the floor.”
“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out,” Harry wrote.
The Duke then described how William urged him to hit back, describing their fights as children. When Harry refused, the future king left before returning later “looking regretful, and apologized.” Harry said he sustained visible injuries on his back.
The Royal Family has not commented on the shocking claim – indeed, they’ve remained silent on just about everything Harry and Meghan have said. It’s safe to say it will most likely stay that way.
King Charles wasn’t there at the scene of the reported fight. However, a few years later, following Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021, Harry, William, and Charles had a meeting at Frogmore Cottage that didn’t end well. At the time, Harry and Meghan had just featured in their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, in which they accused the Royal Family of many things.
“Please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery”
In Spare, Harry wrote that his family members had “come for a fight” in the meeting at Frogmore Cottage as they tried to reconcile with him. The Duke explained that the least they wanted was to understand why he and Meghan had left the Royal Family in the first place.
“I tried to explain my side of things. I wasn’t at my best. For starters. I was still nervous, fighting to keep my emotions in check, while also striving to be succinct and precise,” Harry wrote. “More, I’d vowed not to let this encounter devolve into another argument. But I quickly discovered that it wasn’t up to me.”
But, as previously mentioned, it didn’t end well. Before the main subject was to be discussed – when King Charles asked about the weather and the funeral – Harry felt he was cut off whenever he wanted to speak. Eventually, the two brothers got “heated,” and their father had to step in.
Harry recalled Charles “looking up at our flushed faces,” saying, “please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery.”
Harry’s revelations about his brother aren’t the only things that have angered Prince William. In his book, the Duke also exposed some private text messages Kate Middleton had sent Meghan Markle, among other things.
However, things had already began to deteriorate even before the Sussexes left royal life behind. Speaking to the Daily Beast, a friend of the Prince and Princess of Wales claimed that Harry and Meghan “deliberately” referred to Prince William’s wife as Kate instead of Catherine.
Prince William was “furious” with his brother’s “rude” way of addressing Kate Middleton
Before William and Kate tied the knot, she reportedly asked her friends to call her Catherine instead of Kate. But Harry and Meghan didn’t comply.
The friend told the Daily Beast that the Sussexes continued calling her Kate “even when they were sending her get-well-soon messages after her cancer diagnosis.”
“William takes offence at people calling Catherine ‘Kate’, because she has asked to be known as Catherine,” the friend said.
“It’s a fairly simple wish to respect. I’m sure Meghan wouldn’t like it if William started publicly calling her ‘Meghan Markle.’”
The source continued: “Of course it’s an utterly trivial thing, but those of us who know William know that it is one of the things that pushes his buttons. Pushing his buttons while he was going through his wife’s cancer seemed an entirely unnecessary and deliberate irritation.”
Another friend of the couple added that it was “bloody rude” of Harry and Meghan to call the Princess of Wales by a name she didn’t want to use.
“No one’s saying it’s responsible for all the trouble, but deliberately calling someone by a name they don’t like is just bloody rude,” the friend said. “If Harry and Meghan were serious about healing their issue, a good first step would be to call her Catherine.”
Prince William could exclude Prince Harry from his coronation, source claims
King Charles has been king for almost two years. Prince William is next in line of succession, but even though it could well be many years before he ascends the throne, planning for the next generation is already ongoing.
Operation Menai Bridge, the codename for the plans related to King Charles’s death, is already in full swing. As was the case prior to Queen Elizabeth’s passing, everything will be planned in extreme detail. Of course, whenever it does happen, it will be succeeded in short order by Prince William’s coronation.
Prince Harry attended his father’s coronation in May last year, but William reportedly has other plans when it’s his turn.
While the Prince of Wales is said to want his coronation to “look and feel different,” a friend of William and Harry told The Times that William could exclude his brother from the coronation and not invite him.
Moreover, the friend claimed that the brothers last spoke almost two years ago. “They are estranged, which is dreadfully sad,” the source said.
Prince William can, of course, shut Harry out of his grand day. Still, royal expert and author Christopher Andersen told Fox that he is “convinced” the Duke will be there.
“Despite all the bad blood between the brothers, I’m convinced that, when the time does come, William will not be foolish enough to exclude his only sibling, now fifth in line to the throne, from his coronation,” Andersen said.
Prince William and Prince Harry may only reunite at King Charles’ funeral
“Things probably have never been worse between the brothers than they are now. William and Charles have pretty much made the joint decision to effectively cut Harry out of their lives, at least for the time being. There is no sign of a reconciliation on the horizon, and everyone involved seems to have pretty much come to terms with that.”
“That being said, we have to remember that William is carrying a very heavy psychological burden at the moment,” Andersen continued. “He is deeply upset that his wife and his father are battling cancer at the same time. He must keep a brave face not only for his three young children but also for the sake of the monarchy.”
The Daily Beast spoke to a friend of William’s, who purported even more sad details about a possible reunion between the two brothers. While the source claimed that the Prince of Wales won’t invite Harry to the coronation, the next time they expect to meet is during a tragic event: their father’s funeral.
“I believe it 100 percent. Why would William and Kate want all the distraction and circus that his presence would bring? I suspect that William will see Harry one more time in his life in the flesh—at their father’s funeral,” the friend said.
“William feels betrayed and hurt”
“Things are totally frozen between the two of them. It is hard to overstate how utterly William feels betrayed and hurt on a very personal level. The two brothers were so close growing up that they would finish each other’s sentences. Amid all the trauma of their mum dying and their dad being quite distant, it was an amazing thing to witness,” the source continued.
“Reading Harry’s book, I was really struck by how honest he was about the depth and the importance of his relationship with William when they were younger. It makes his decision to basically sell out his entire family, but particularly William, for a bumper payday even more inexplicable.”
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