A royal expert has shed some light on what Prince Harry and Prince William’s relationship was really like with a damning six-word verdict.
The brothers, who were once seen by the public as being inseparable, have not been on talking terms for almost two years since Harry, 40, hurled a bunch of accusations at William, 42.
However, while Harry’s memoir was considered to be the final straw in the relationship between the siblings, it is believed that the brotherly bond had been struggling for quite some time.
Royal expert Richard Fizwilliam summarised the relationship with a brutal six-word verdict: “The inseparable brothers were a myth.”
He told GB News: “Harry was very unhappy. If you read Spare, it is clear that his relationship with William is not what we thought. The inseparable brothers were a myth.”
While the main shockwave from the memoir came after Harry accused Prince William of physically attacking him, elsewhere in the book royal fans were surprised to find that other problems existed in the relationship.
In the memoir, Harry described William as being both his “beloved brother” and “arch nemesis”, with the pair often feeling as if they were in competition with each other.
The duke also said that William was not welcoming to him when the young prince moved into Eton College, the same school as his older sibling.
He wrote: “For the last two years, he explained, Eton had been his sanctuary. No kid brother tagging along, pestering him with questions, pushing up on his social circle. He was forging his own life, and he wasn’t willing to give it up.”
Harry also said William “hated” the fact he and his brother were often seen as a “package deal”.
While the brothers may have not always seen eye to eye growing up, their main rifts reportedly started after Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle following their 2018 wedding.
This was then made worse after Harry announced he was quitting life as a senior royal in 2020, which led to the duke going on to do a number of bombshell interviews, including one with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 where the duke and Meghan accused the family of having conversations about the skin colour of Prince Archie before he was born.
Prince William retaliated to this when he was asked whether the Royal Family were racist on an engagement soon after. He said: “We’re very much not a racist family.”
The brothers are not believed to have spoken since the release of Harry’s memoir Spare in 2023.