Princess Diana would be “devastated” if she saw her sons, Prince Harry and Prince William not working together to carry on her legacy, a royal expert has claimed.
The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex have been estranged since Harry’s sensational departure from the Royal Family in 2020 and subsequent attacks against the Firm in the years that followed.
William and Harry are thought not to be on speaking terms. The frosty state of their relationship was evident during Harry’s brief trip back to the UK over the summer for the funeral of his uncle, Lord Fellowes, when the two brothers reportedly did not exchange a single word.
The Prince of Wales is set to appear in a new ITV documentary about homelessness this week, where he will hear stories from those in need who he hopes to help with Homewards.
In Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the heir to the throne pays tribute to his mother and mentions his brother publicly for the first time in years.
But royal expert Phil Dampier said that, despite the move that was seen by many as an “olive branch”, the two feuding brothers are unlikely to reconcile anytime soon and their mother would be distraught over them not working together on a project that was so close to her heart.
Mr Dampier told the Sun: “I’m sure Diana would be obviously devastated to see what’s happened between the two brothers. She’d obviously be very upset to see that they’ve drifted apart so much and have fallen out so badly.
“They both could have done so much good for something which she was very anxious for them to do and so I’m sure she’d be absolutely devastated.
“It’s been seen by some as an olive branch to Harry because he’s mentioned him for the first time in six years in this documentary. I don’t see it that myself. I think the rift between them is still as wide as ever, unfortunately.”
He added: “It’s just a rather sad indication of the fact that something which they could have worked together on, and something which they both experienced at a young age, they’re no longer doing. It’s just left William on his own, and Harry’s not joining in, so I don’t see this as an olive branch.”
The expert claimed that the only reason William mentioned Harry was that he “couldn’t just airbrush him out of history”.
He explained: “He couldn’t not mention Harry, because he’s in all the photographs, and he’s in all the films when they went with Diana. And so it’s fairly obvious that he had to.”