Prince William’s rift with Prince Harry is ‘not something he can forget about’

Prince William ‘cannot just forget’ about his rift with Prince Harry and feels a ‘constant strain’ over the feud, a royal expert has claimed.

Speaking to OK!, Duncan Larcombe – author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story – said the Duke of Cambridge, 39, and the Duke of Sussex, 37, ‘both have a lot of regret’ over their disagreements and feel like they’ve ‘lost a best friend’ but their ‘stubborness’ is preventing a reconciliation. 

The brothers have been separated by a rift that is said to have begun in March 2019 when William reportedly threw Harry and Meghan out of Kensington Palace over the alleged bullying of staff, which has been denied, with the Sussexes breaking up their joint foundation and setting up a new office at Buckingham Palace. 

The claims emerged in Robert Lacey’s book Battle of Brothers, published before Harry and Meghan went on Oprah to accuse the Royal Family of racism and claim they were abandoned when the Duchess of Sussex was suicidal and six months pregnant.

Harry also said his brother and father were ‘trapped’ by the institution of monarchy, and that feels ‘really let down’ by his father Charles.   

Speaking today, Mr Larcombe said: ‘It’s very clear to those that know William that the rift with his brother is not something that he can just forget about.

‘It’s very much, as you can imagine, a constant strain. It is for Harry as well, they’re both as stubborn as mules’.

He added: ‘Everything else seems to be going right for William at this time, he’s riding the crest of a wave in most aspects of his life, but sadly he has the absence of Prince Harry, his brother in his life.’

Mr Larcombe also explained that William has ‘always had a plan’ of where he wants to be in five years’ including his ‘transition from ‘prince to husband to father to future king’.  

‘He’s basically ticked all of those boxes that he set out to tick when he was graduating from university but the one thing not going right for him is something that is deeply upsetting.’ 

The brothers have been separated by a rift that began in March 2019 when William reportedly threw Harry and Meghan out of Kensington Palace over the alleged bullying of staff, with the Sussexes breaking up their joint foundation and setting up a new office at Buckingham Palace. The Duke and Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex are pictured at Westminster Abbey in 2018

 Harry, who now lives in a $14 million mansion in Montecito with his wife and their children Archie and Lilibet, recently announced he has been secretly working on a bombshell book for nearly a year.

The royal brothers reunited last summer for the unveiling of a statue of their late mother Princess Diana to mark what would have been her 60th birthday.

The pair, who previously were last seen publicly together at their grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral in April,  may have healed their rift with their aunt Sarah Ferguson, 61, telling Australian Women’s Weekly the statue ‘brought unity and togetherness’ to the family.

In July, William and Harry reunited with their aunts  Lady Sarah McCorquodale, 66, Lady Jane Fellowes, 64, and their uncle Charles, Earl Spencer, 57, for an intimate ceremony at Kensington Palace for the highly-anticipated statue unveiling.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, is currently living with the Duchess, 40, in their $14 million mansion in California having stepped back from royal duty last year

William and Harry put aside their personal differences and stood shoulder-to-shoulder to unveil the bronze statue of their mother in the Sunken Garden, which became a place of solace for Diana before her death in 1997. The garden was replanted with 4,000 of Diana’s favourite flowers in honour of the event.

At the time, sources close to Earl Spencer have said that there is a hope that the celebration of their mother’s life and legacy will bring Harry and William together again after months of discord over the Sussexes’ decision to quit the royal family and subsequent interviews in which they publicly criticised the royal family.

Earlier this week royal expert Camilla Tominey claimed that Prince Harry is ‘in regular contact with Prince Charles’ but his relationship with Prince William ‘has not recovered since the infamous Oprah interview last year’.

Ms Tominey also questioned ‘what Harry and Meghan Markle have actually been doing’ since leaving life as senior royals last year, stating there has been ‘little evidence of a global wave of service’ sparked by the couple. 

Meanwhile she also noted Prince Harry’s relationship with his family has barely improved over the last year, writing in The Telegraph: ‘While Prince Charles is thought to be in regular contact with his youngest son, Harry’s relationship with William has still not recovered from Oprah, after he suggested both his father and his brother felt ‘trapped’ in the Royal family.’

The pair are said to have had an ‘incredibly strained’ relationship after two years of rows over Harry’s wife and her alleged treatment of staff, the couple’s decision to emigrate to America and the tonnes of ‘truth bombs’ the Sussexes have dropped in TV interviews watched by tens of millions of people around the world.