Prince William and Prince Harry’s relationship has been adrift since 2018, when their royal household split. Things didn’t get better as Meghan Markle and Harry decided to leave their senior roles in the Firm – and the Oprah interview put things on even worse terms.
In recent months, several reports by royal experts regarding the relation have been published. Some argue the relation between Harry and William still is very tense – and now, William has had enough.
According to royal expert Charlotte Griffiths, William is now tired of all “nonsense” surrounding Meghan and Harry — and it appears that he’s going to change his game entirely.
Harry & Meghan Markle – Oprah interview
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle put themselves in a tough situation with the Royal Family following the Oprah Winfrey interview.
With that said, it was obviously necessary for them to speak out on what really had happened.
During the interview, Harry made several claims about his family, including one that claimed his brother is trapped.
“The answer to your question is no, [I wouldn’t have left the Royal family],” Harry told Oprah Winfrey.
“I wouldn’t have been able to because I myself was trapped, I didn’t see a way out. I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped. But the moment that I met Meg, and our worlds collided in the most amazing of ways and then [I began] to see how trapped within the system, like, the rest of my family are.
“My father and my brother, they are trapped,” Harry added. “They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that.”
Further, Meghan spoke about her mental health, and how she had been feeling very bad during her time within the Royal Family.
She also revealed that she wasn’t helped through her anguish by the Firm.
When Meghan was asked whether she had considered self-harm, she responded: “Yes. This was very, very clear. Very clear and very scary. I didn’t know who to turn to in that.”
Spoke about mental health struggles
During this time, there was one particular incident that stood out, and it took place shortly before Meghan accompanied her husband to an event at the Royal Albert Hall.
“Right before we had to leave for that (event), I had just had that conversation with Harry that morning,” Meghan recalled.
“That you don’t want to be alive anymore?” Oprah asked.
“Yeah,” Markle replied.
The relationship between Harry and his brother William was already frosty before that infamous sit down, but the interview really turned things sour.
William and Kate outraged
Both William and his wife Kate Middleton were said to be outraged by the interview, for a number of reasons. Meghan Markle claimed that Kate was the one who made her cry during a wedding dress rehearsals, which left the latter fuming.
Harry, on the other hand, was too outspoken for William’s taste – William is rumored to believe his brother chose “fame over family.”
Yet weeks after the Oprah interview, reports stated William was willing to give Harry one more chance.
“William thinks Harry chose fame over family,” US Weekly’s Christina Garibaldi said as quoted by Express.
“A source tells us that ‘William feels that Harry has got too big for his boots since moving to California and that success and Hollywood has gone to his head.'”
In any case, it sure seems that Harry and Meghan have chosen a whole different lifestyle. Not only have they left the Royal Family and its commitments, but they’ve also launched deals with Spotify and Netflix.
But even though things turned sour following the Oprah interview, Harry and Meghan weren’t planning on stopping.
They appeared in several other interviews, and in one with the Armchair Expert podcast, Harry spoke openly about his personal struggles and seeing a therapist, as well as shared his thoughts on his own upbringing.
Harry’s ‘genetic pain’
At the same time as stating that he places no blame on his father, Harry said Charles handed down a “cycle” of “genetic pain and suffering”.
“I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody. But certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure that I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on basically,” Harry said.
“There’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway, as parents we should be doing the most that we can to try and say ‘you know what that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.’”
Further, Harry revealed how he actually wanted to leave the Royal Family in his early 20s. A lot had to do with how he saw his mother Princess Diana treated before her death.
“Look what it did to my mum, how am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and a family when I know that it’s going to happen again,” Harry explained. “I don’t want to be part of this.”
William was “shocked” over Harry’s comments
Harry added that he started therapy because it “it was like the bubble was burst.”
“I was like, OK, you’re in this position of privilege, stop complaining or stop thinking as though you want something different, make this different. Because you can’t get out, so how are you going to do this differently, how are you going to make your mum proud, how are you going to use this platform to really affect change?” he added.
Harry’s latest interview seems to have caused more problems with his family in the UK. According to royal expert Nick Bullen, Prince William was “shocked by the amount of things that his brother has said over the last few weeks.”
Bullen told US Magazine that Prince William is likely to want “the relationship repaired” between himself and Harry. However, their brotherly dynamic was “different” from the one between a father and his son.
“I’m sure the Royal Family and the various royal households just want a moment of calm and are saying, ‘Let’s not have any more headlines,’” Bullen said. “‘Let’s just have a period when no one’s speaking.’”
It’s been about five months since the infamous Oprah interview. But now, it seems like William has grown really tired of hearing about Meghan and Harry, and all that comes with it.
William “refused” to take nonsense
According to The Daily Mail’s royal expert Charlotte Griffiths, William has “refused to take anymore nonsense” from Harry and Meghan.
Further, she claims that a “new picture” is emerging, which is suggesting that William in fact is much tougher in the rift than previously thought.
“Most people thought the main blame for the fall-out was not Meghan, but instead the brothers themselves,” Griffiths said as quoted by Express.
“A new picture is emerging that William is much tougher in this situation than we previously thought. He is very, very firm. He was much tougher behind the scenes very early on.”
Further, Charlotte Griffith claimed that William is going to change his tactics about handling Harry and Meghan. Now he’s going to go for a “different track,” she said.
“William had felt that the smoothing over hadn’t been working for quite a long time at that moment. He felt decisive action was needed, that he needed to play them at their own game,” Griffith explained.
“Prince Harry hasn’t been subtle”
Royal author Duncan Larcombe, the author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, earlier said that William is “dreading” Harry and Meghan’s next move, after reports of the couple planning to become “influencers.
Larcombe stated that Harry and Meghan have to “stop cashing in on the brand” by “continually talking about the royals” as they move on.
“What do they do next? That’s a question Prince William is dreading the answer to,” Larcome told OK! Magazine.
“Ultimately, they have to find a way to do their work in LA while not trading on the royal brand.
“Prince Harry hasn’t exactly been subtle,” he added.
Together for Diana statue unveiling
Just two weeks ago, Harry once again put his foot on UK soil. He joined his brother William for the unveiling of Princess Diana’s statue in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace.
The statue was originally commissioned in 2017 by Harry and William – on the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death. It was unveiled at an afternoon ceremony on what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday.
Harry and William entered the Sunken Garden together. They greeted their aunts and uncle: their mother’s siblings Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes and Earl Spencer.
Side by side, they walked over to the statue before pulling away the cloth. The statue sure is wonderful, with Diana being cast in bronze.
Beforehand, there was plenty of speculation about Harry and William’s speeches during the ceremony. Experts thought they would hold separate speeches, but this didn’t happen after all.
In fact, Harry and William didn’t give any speech at all. Instead, the two brothers released joint statement through Kensington Palace following the event.
Harry & William – joint statement
“Today, on what would have been our Mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength and character — qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better,” they said.
“Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy,” they continued before thanking the team and donors involved in the long-awaited project.
So why did they release a joint statement instead of just speaking on their own? Well, according to Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, this was all about keeping William and Harry out of the spotlight on the big day.
“In only releasing a joint statement, the palace and princes have limited our ability to dissect their speeches and their body language. This allowed the focus to be on their mother and her statue,” Kinsey told Insider.
“The joint statement is a classic Buckingham Palace strategy that translates to ‘We’ve got everything under control!’ Think Prince Charles and Princess Diana, July 1996 when they were eager to make it look like the divorce was amicable,” she added.
What do you think of the Royal feud? Are you standing behind Harry and Meghan, or William? Please, give us your opinion in the comment section.
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