It’s a good thing that former Prince Charles is the King of England. Otherwise, he might have earned a new title: “the king of drama.”
Originally, Prince Harry and Prince William had a royal falling out, and it resulted in a bitter feud that lasted many years. It didn’t take long for Charles to get roped into the drama, with the final result being that Prince Harry is separated from his family both physically (he now lives in America with Meghan Markle) and emotionally.
Ahead of Charles’ coronation, there were “peace talks” in which Harry tried to bury the hatchet with his family. It looks like Charles was amenable to such talks, but Prince William is content to continue the feud.
What drove this famous family apart? How did the peace talks go, and why is William still beefing? Keep reading to find out!
The original falling out between Prince Harry and Prince William
Part of what makes the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William that much sadder is how close the two used to be. As Sky News reports, Prince William once declared that the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana, meant that the brothers were “uniquely bonded because of what we’ve been through”.
What could break this bond between brothers? In a word: a girl. Very early on into Harry’s relationship with Meghan Markle, William expressed concerns that things were moving too fast. Things allegedly got even worse when William tried to get their uncle, Charles Spencer, to discuss the dangers of diving too quickly into this relationship.
Harry forged ahead and married Meghan, and the drama continued, with one source claiming that “Harry felt William wasn’t rolling out the red carpet for Meghan.” Neither Harry nor William commented publicly on the drama, but Harry did admit in 2019 that he and his brother were on “different paths.” But it was only when Harry’s path took him away from the family and England altogether that the rift became an outright break in their relationship.
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“Megxit” increased the rift and roped King Charles into the drama
In January 2020, Harry and Meghan made the landmark decision to step down from most of their royal responsibilities. This shocked everyone from William all the way to Queen Elizabeth. And the shock continued when the two left England altogether, eventually settling in California in a move infamously dubbed “Megxit” by the press.
Still, there were general hopes that a bit of time and distance might heal the rift between the brothers. Those hopes were shattered when Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Harry and Meghan aired. As CNN reports, the interview included such juicy tidbits as Meghan alleging that the palace ignored her growing emotional distress and suicidal thoughts and claims they felt “trapped” by their stifling family. The two made an explosive claim that an unnamed senior royal was worried about the skin color of their as-yet-unborn first child, and they were quite blunt about leaving royal life and England behind because of a “lack of support and lack of understanding” from the Royal Family.
All of this airing of dirty laundry was enough to make William (who promptly went in front of television cameras to say the Royal Family is not actually racist) angrier at his brother than ever. But the interview also roped Charles into the drama, with Harry alleging that Charles had financially cut them off and “stopped taking my calls.”
Harry and Meghan’s docudrama furthered the divide
In many ways, being financially cut off made things worse. According to Page Six, Charles got annoyed by Harry “repeatedly asked for funds in their tense calls,” and Charles bluntly told Elizabeth he cut his son off because “he was not a bank.”
In order to continue funding their lavish lifestyles without palace support, Harry and Meghan struck lucrative media deals with Spotify and Netflix. However, the deal with Netflix ultimately deepened the rift between Harry and the rest of his family. Harry & Meghan is a docuseries nominally meant to focus on the day-to-day life of the titular couple, but episodes kept airing even more dirty royal laundry than the Oprah interview.
As reported by the Mirror, this included Harry alleging that the palace once “lied to protect my brother” and that during the Sandringham summit, William yelled at Harry with such intensity that Harry was left “terrified.” With Harry now seemingly committed to dragging his family with each new episode, it looked like the rift between him, his father, and especially his brother would never heal.
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Charles’ coronation and a chance to heal the rift between father and sons
When King Charles’ coronation was approaching, everyone had the same question: would Harry and Meghan be invited after all of the drama they previously caused and continued to cause?
According to Cosmopolitan, not only did Charles invite his son to the coronation, but the two actually “held peace talks” ahead of the event to help mend fences. The talks were successful, and despite Harry spending “several weeks agonizing” over the decision, he ultimately decided to go because “it is about showing up, showing support and being there for his father.”
These peace talks, however, didn’t extend to Prince William. Sources claim William is still very angry over what Harry said about him and the family, both in the docuseries and in his recent memoir, Spare. They allegedly exchanged no words ahead of the coronation, and many other royals decided to follow William’s lead and not speak much or engage with Harry at the event beyond the most basic pleasantries. While there may now be a cautious peace between Harry and his father, it looks like the rift with his brother may never fully heal.