The once-close brotherly relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry has gradually deteriorated over the years, but according to an expert their upbringing may have played a significant role in this.
The pair are no longer on speaking terms after Harry and Meghan Markle left the Firm in 2020 and moved to California, with the couple later making damaging claims about the royals in the Netflix series and Harry’s memoir Spare.
Growing up Harry and William felt the dynamic of the heir and the spare most keenly, with William receiving special treatment as the future King.
Despite the reassurances of their parents Princess Diana and Prince Charles, a childhood in the royal spotlight took its toll on the sibling bond, as Harry would have had his frustrations validated by the outside world.
Psychotherapist Helen Villiers told Express.co.uk: “In William and Harry’s situation, it wasn’t just the family that might have valued William higher than Harry, it would have been the whole world doing that.
“So there’s constant narrative that Harry is not as good as William, which of course is going to absolutely show up in their relationship with each other because Harry will always feel that he’s less than and believed potentially, that William buys into that narrative, which he probably will because that’s the narrative they’ve been taught.
“That’s not any fault of his own, it’s just the narratives that they’ve been taught to believe and conditioned with and therefore creates this constant ongoing conflict between them.”
Ms Villiers noted that it would be hard for anyone to disprove that Harry was as important as William, as the older brother was destined to one day become King.
