Prince William’s rift with Harry is ‘hardest’ thing he’s gone through since death of Princess Diana

Prince William’s rift with Prince Harry is comparable to the loss he experienced after the tragic death of their mother Princess Diana, a royal expert has claimed.

Duncan Larcombe, a journalist and author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, explained the tension between the royal brothers is increasingly painful for Prince William.

He told OK! magazine that the 38-year-old, feels like he’s suffered a loss, saying: ‘There’s no doubt this is one of the hardest things that William has gone through, the hardest since his mother died. 

‘He feels he has lost his brother and his best friend.’ 

Rumours of a rift between the brothers emerged in 2019 when the brothers divided their households following a series of disagreements about Harry’s role. 

It also emerged that Harry was upset when William advised him not to rush into marriage with ‘this girl’, which the younger brother took as a slight against Meghan. 

The Duke of Cambridge’s rift with his brother is said to have soured even further in early 2020 when the Sussexes ‘blindsided’ Her Majesty by announcing they would be stepping down from their roles as senior royals and moving to the US.

After the infamous ‘Sandringham summit’ – when the Megxit deal was hammered out – William and Harry went for a walk to clear the air. However they did not part shores as friends, it was reported.

Duncan claims Prince William feels like he’s lost a brother and best friend. Pictured: Prince William and Prince Harry with their late mother Diana in 1995

William was said to have been particularly aggrieved by the couple’s surprise launch of their ‘Sussex Royal’ website before the summit last January.

Later, when the Queen decreed they could no longer use ‘royal’ in their future ventures, Meghan and Harry hit back with a bold statement saying they did not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ or ‘Royal’ even though there was ‘not any jurisdiction’ over its use overseas.

The issue was said to still be on William’s mind at the Commonwealth Day service last year – the Sussexes’ final engagement as working royals – when tensions between the brothers were palpable.

Then came the bombshell interview with Oprah in which Prince Harry admitted that he and his brother are on ‘different paths’ and have good and bad days in their relationship.  

Harry accused an unnamed member of his family of racism and said the lack of support he and his wife received from the other royals was behind their decision to quit the UK. Pictured: Harry and Meghan talking to Oprah

Harry added that he felt sorry for his brother and his father Prince Charles because they are trapped in their royal roles. 

The allegations have said to have soured the rift between Princes William and Harry further. 

The Sunday Times reported that Prince William was left ‘reeling’ by the admissions, with friends insisting that they were ‘way off the mark’.

Gayle King, 66, who is a close friend of Oprah, has revealed Harry and William spoke after the bombshell interview aired, but their conversations were ‘not productive’.

She told CBS This Morning: ‘Well I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling, and it’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too.

Gayle King claims Princes Harry and William have spoken since the Oprah interview, however the discussion was unproductive. Pictured: Duchess and Duke of Cambridge with Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2019

‘The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive. But they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.

‘And I think what is still upsetting to them is the palace keep saying they want to work it out privately, but yet, they believe these false stories are coming out that are very disparaging against Meghan, still.

‘No one in the Royal Family has talked to Meghan yet, at this particular time.

‘And I think it’s frustrating for them to see that it’s a racial conversation about the Royal Family when all they wanted all along was for the royals to intervene and tell the Press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant.

‘And until you can acknowledge that, I think it’s going to be hard to move forward. But they both want to move forward with this and they both want healing in this family. At the end of the day, that is Harry’s family.’