On Sunday, January 8, Prince Harry’s 90-minute long interview — entitled Harry: The Interview — with ITV’s Tom Bradby was aired and saw him tell of how he has “always loved his brother”, but that they have been on “different paths” since the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. In another interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, Harry revealed that he is “currently” not in touch with William, who he describes in his upcoming memoir as both his “beloved brother and arch-nemesis”. Here, Express.co.uk explores the sticking points in the brothers’ fraught relationship.
The alleged attack
In Spare, Harry details an alleged fight with his older brother which left him covered in “scrapes and bruises”.
The Duke claims that in 2019, William arrived at Nottingham Cottage, which is situated on the grounds of Kensington Palace, London, “piping hot” and ready to talk to him about “the whole rolling catastrophe” of their relationship, the press, and Meghan.
According to Harry, William labelled Meghan “difficult”, “rude”, and “abrasive”. The Duke of Sussex — who married the former actress in May of the previous year — accused his older brother of buying into the media narrative.
In an attempt to calm the tension, Harry said he gave William some water before calling him his nickname “Willy” and stating: “I can’t speak to you when you’re like this.”
But Harry claimed matters only escalated, and that William called him another name and then came at him, ripping his necklace and knocking him to the floor.
The Duke then said he landed on the dog’s bowl which cracked underneath him, shards cutting into his back. William then allegedly urged him to hit him back, but the Duke refused. Harry told how the Prince of Wales then left the room, before returning and apologising, telling him he “didn’t attack” him, adding that there was no need to tell “Meg”. Harry said he then got on the phone with his therapist and later admitted to the Duchess of Sussex what happened when she saw his “scrapes and bruises”.
READ MORE: Harry claims Diana would be ‘heartbroken’ at William for breaking pact
“Beard-gate”
During Meghan and Harry’s fairytale wedding at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, Harry was seen sporting a beard. To outsiders, this may seem a minute detail, but in Spare, the Duke has revealed that this was a matter of contention between the siblings.
In the British Army, beards were “forbidden”, Harry writes, adding: “A beard was thought by some to be a clear violation of protocol and longstanding norms.”
But Harry — who described his beard as a “shield to his anxiety” — was allowed to keep his facial hair and wear his military uniform on his big day by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
In the ITV interview, he reasoned that he would feel “very, very different without it”, adding that he believed Meghan would not be able to recognise him if he was beardless.
It was William, Harry claimed, who took umbrage to this, as he was previously ordered to get rid of his by the Queen when he grew one during a military assignment in 2008. When hearing that his brother was keeping his beard, William “bristled” and became “livid”.
Harry claimed that William accused him of putting the Queen in an awkward position over his facial hair, an argument that went on for a week.
Sibling rivalry
The year after their mother’s death, Harry followed in William’s footsteps and joined him at Eton College. The Duke had thought that the pair would spend time together now they were living in the same place again, but instead, William “did not want anything to do with him”. This left Harry hurt.
He has now said, however, that he realises that as siblings, you need “space” from one another. But at the time, this was something he could not “grasp”.
In his memoir, he also details that as adults, William had been territorial over the charity work they carry out, as he allegedly told Harry that he did not want Harry on his “turf” as Africa was “his”.
Whether the two brothers will — or even can — make amends remains unknown. Although Harry does want to reconcile, the Duke said he wants to do so with “accountability”.
Kensington Palace has refused to comment on the allegations.
