Prince Harry and Prince William were once famous for being the closest of brothers.
United in their dedication to using their influence for good, as well as their shared childhood trauma of losing their mother at a young age, it once seemed the brothers were inseparable.
This image of sibling harmony was shattered, however, when Prince Harry released his memoir, Spare, earlier this year.
In it, he included a number of damning accusations levelled at his brother, including one of a physical altercation.
The book did, however, include some glimpses of how close Harry and William once were, before the damning royal row erupted on a public stage.
In one chapter, Harry introduces William’s “new girlfriend” — the then-named Kate Middleton.
He wrote about how, aged 20, he was struggling to decide what to wear to an Out of Africa-themed party (the one that would eventually lead to the ‘Nazi Prince’ scandal), and how Prince William insisted: “We’ll find you something to wear, Harold”. Kate “promised to help”.
Harry wrote: “I liked his new girlfriend. She was carefree, sweet, kind. She’d done a gap year in Florence, knew about photography, art. And clothes. She loved clothes. Her name was Kate.”
He went on to describe William’s “ridiculous” outfit for the party, and how “Kate and I had a great time pointing our fingers at him and rolling around on the floor” laughing at William.
“I liked seeing Kate laugh,” Harry admitted. “Better yet, I liked making her laugh. And I was quite good at it. My transparently silly side connected with her heavily disguised silly side.”
In a moment of vulnerability, Harry then admitted: “Whenever I worried that Kate was going to be the one to take Willy from me, I consoled myself with thoughts of all our future laughing fits together, and I told myself how great everything would be when I had a serious girlfriend who could laugh along with us.”
For a while, things appeared to be turning out just how Harry had hoped. When he met Meghan Markle, the two couples were dubbed the “fab four” in the press. They undertook engagements together and appeared to be united in their goals.
But not long after Harry and Meghan were married, cracks began to show.
In November 2018, Harry, Meghan, William and Kate announced their decision to split their offices and then their households.
By February 2021, Buckingham Palace confirmed Harry and Meghan would no longer work on behalf of the Royal Family.
