Prince William and Prince Harry were once best friends. The two brothers lost their mother, Princess Diana, at an early age, but as Harry left the royal family, everything changed. The two haven’t spoken for years, but did the feud really start when Harry left with Meghan? According to Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, a trigger in their childhood could have been the start of it all.
Prince William and Prince Harry’s childhood was filled with joy. Princess Diana decided she wanted to raise them as “normal” as possible, something at least William has continued to do with his own children.
Their mother’s passing left a deep wound in both of them, and as Harry left he royal family in 2020, the “Battle of the Brothers” had begun. William and Harry haven’t spoken in years, and as William is now next in line for the succession, rumors about the coronation and whether Harry will even be invited have spread.
While the Prince of Wales has been rumored to want his coronation to “look and feel different,” a friend of William and Harry told The Times in August last year that William could exclude his brother from the event and not invite him. The friend claimed that the brothers had last spoken to each other almost two years ago. “They are estranged, which is dreadfully sad,” the source added.
Of course, William is technically well within his rights to exclude Harry from his coronation. Still, royal expert and author Christopher Andersen told Fox he is “convinced” that 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.
Harry could skip attending William’s coronation, source claims
“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.”
Harry returned to the UK for his father’s coronation, though his relationship with his family was icy to say the least. However, if William invites Harry to his coronation, Harry might not even want to go, according to a PageSix source.
Speaking to the news outlet, royal expert Hugo Vickers said that William “theoretically” should invite his younger brother to his coronation.
“But quite frankly he can do what he likes. It is not set in stone,” Vickers told Page Six. “The Duke of Windsor was not invited to [his niece Queen Elizabeth’s] coronation in 1953. There was a lot of discussion about it.”
The release of Harry’s memoir, Spare, didn’t improve their relationship. Instead, it turned for the worse, not least because of what the Duke said about his elder brother and several other members of the Royal Family.
How one ‘brutal childhood comment’ triggered Prince William & Harry’s feud
The rivalry between the two has been obvious over the years. But perhaps it isn’t a new thing. Speaking on Channel 5’s documentary The Palace: What the Royal Servants Saw, Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, claimed that Harry’s feelings of being the “spare” might have been triggered all the way back when they were children.
He claimed a trigger, such as the nanny perhaps favoring William, who was —and still is —to be the future king.
“I heard one of the nannies say to William, ‘I’m going to give you three sausages, William. You need to grow big and strong, because you’re going to be king one day,'” Burrell said.
Burrell, who began working at Buckingham Palace at the age of 18 and also served as King Charles’ butler, spent a considerable amount of time close to William and Harry. He witnessed at close range how their rivalry began in their childhood and continued into adulthood.
“I met both William and Harry in their early 20s, at a polo match, and chatted to them, and you could see that Harry always felt he was in second place.”
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