Prince Harry claims his brother, Prince William, broke a pact the pair made not to let their office’s trade negative press stories about each other.
“William and I both saw what happened in our dad’s office and we made an agreement that we would never let that happen to our office,” he said in the latest episodes of their Netflix docuseries, “Harry & Meghan.”
“I would far rather get destroyed in the press than play along with this game or business of trading,” the Duke of Sussex, 38, said, “and to see my brother’s office doing the same thing that we promised the two of us would never ever do, that was heartbreaking.”
Harry and wife Meghan Markle also detailed the moment the negative press about them began after their successful 2018 tour of Australia.
“The issue is when someone who’s marrying in, who should be a supporting act is then stealing the limelight or is doing the job better than the person who was born to do this, that upsets people,” Harry explained elsewhere in the doc. “It shifts the balance because you’ve been led to believe that the only way that your charities can succeed and the only way that your reputation can be grown or improved is if you’re the front page of those newspapers.”
There have been rumblings for years of a rift between William, 40, and Harry ever since the latter started dating Markle in the summer of 2016.
However, the divide grew even larger after the Sussexes infamously quit their royal duties in January 2020 and sat down for a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.
Both Harry and Markle alleged to the renowned talk show host at the time that members of the royal family made racially insensitive comments about their firstborn child’s skin color.
The former “Suits” star also claimed to Winfrey, 68, that Middleton, 40, made her cry ahead of her royal wedding in May 2018 over her choice of flower girl dresses.
The allegations immediately caused the Prince and Princess of Wales to spring into defense mode and debunk the claims.
A few days after the interview, William told reporters that the royals were “very much not a racist family.”
Royals author Katie Nicholl, who has had close ties to the royals for years, then said Middleton was “mortified” about the crying incident being exposed because she is “very careful with how she treats others.”
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Investigative journalist Tom Bower claimed months later that Markle was the one who made her sister-in-law “burst into tears.”
Since then, Harry and William have been spotted avoiding each other at royal events.
In June, it was reported that the brothers had no plans to hang out during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee despite Harry now living across the pond in California with Markle while William still resides in the UK.
Even the Queen’s death in September failed to bring her grandsons back together.
A source close to Harry told the Sunday Times of London that being in each other’s company was “uncomfortable” for the siblings, but “everybody is trying their best.”
Nicholl explained at the time why William was having such a hard time forgiving Harry.
“He always thought Harry would be his wingman, now he’s doing it on his own,” the “The New Royals — Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown” author said. “Thank goodness he’s got Kate by his side.”
The remark was a reference to Harry’s previous claim that William is “trapped” in royal life, as the former Duke of Cambridge is the heir apparent to the British throne.
“Time heals all things hopefully,” Harry told Winfrey in his 2021 interview. “ I love William to bits. … We’ve been through hell together.”
