This One Royal Is the "Greatest Hope" to Reunite William & Harry, Sources Say
They don't think it's too late to pull Harry and Meghan back into the fold, according to insiders.
With every new revelation and interview from Prince Harry, it appears less and less likely he'll ever be part of The Firm's inner circle again. What started with the shocking Oprah Winfrey interview back in March has become something of a runaway train, and the royals are seemingly powerless to stop it. Insiders have said the prince's deeply personal and less-than-glowing remarks about his father, Prince Charles, on the Armchair Expert podcast in mid-May and his continued disclosures about his relationship with his family on his Apple TV+ series The Me You Can't See have severed the already tenuous bond Harry once had with his father and brother, with next to no hope of it ever being repaired.
"It's both sad and shocking to watch Harry as he cuts his last remaining ties to the Royal Family," a Palace source told Best Life. "He has hurt and angered a lot of people by lashing out in a way no one would have ever expected. Prince William and Charles don't know what to do, except let Harry sort himself out and perhaps, one day, be ready for some kind of healing."
But there is one royal who has always been in the Duke of Sussex's corner and, despite being at the center of all the drama, is pushing for a reconciliation between Harry and William. Read on to find out which member of The Firm is determined to reunite the brothers and in doing so, has proven to be the Royal Family's greatest asset.
Kate has become "the family's greatest hope" for reconciliation between Harry and William, a source says.
As the wife of a future king and the mother of another, Duchess Catherine's current role as a modernizing and accessible senior royal has never been more essential to the future of the monarchy. From the very beginning of Megxit in early 2020—which preceded the COVID pandemic by just a month—Kate's steady, empathetic, and good-humored approach to her responsibilities have been a calming balm on one of the Royal Family's most explosive chapters in recent years.
"Kate truly is the jewel in the crown," a Palace source told Best Life. "She was already a great asset to the family, but over the past year and a half, she has embodied the ethos 'Keep calm and carry on' in the face of an extraordinary amount of family drama. The duchess has done so in a way where she never overshadows her husband but, at the same, more than proves she's an equal partner. William has been struggling with all that's happened between him and Harry and she's been his rock. She is really the family's greatest hope for some kind of reconciliation between the brothers."
RELATED: This Royal Stood by Kate After Harry & Meghan's Tell-All, Says Insider.
She has always been "extremely close" to Harry and "won't give up on him," according to an insider.
For years, Harry called Kate "the sister I never had" and he often teamed up with his sister-in-law to tease William. "They have always had a wonderful kind of sibling relationship," said one insider. "Kate was extremely close to Harry from the very early days and always made sure he was included in everything they did. She even cooked for him. They were a pretty jolly threesome. Kate won't give up on him."
When Meghan Markle came on the scene, a chill descended on the foursome—not because of a rivalry between the women, but because of bad blood between the brothers. "Meghan and Kate did the best they could, but it was hard when their husbands had fallen out," said the source. Even after the Sussexes left England, Kate remained hopeful that Harry and Meghan would remain close to the family. In The Telegraph's Stella magazine, veteran royals reporter Camilla Tominey wrote: "I have been reliably informed she was even telling her friends before the Oprah interview that she did not think it was too late to 'pull them back in.'"
The Duchess of Cambridge has emerged as the Royal Family's peacemaker and comforter.
When it was revealed that Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey would air while 99-year-old Prince Philip was hospitalized and, as we later learned, in the final stages of his life, the dramatic confluence of events inflamed tempers and angered many members of the Royal Family.
A royal source told Best Life the seismic aftershocks of the tell-all left Charles and William "absolutely furious." Meghan began the interview by talking at length about Kate, addressing the infamous episode before the royal wedding where Meghan reportedly made Kate cry, saying "the reverse" happened. But the Duchess of Cambridge reportedly put her personal feelings aside and focused on getting her husband and brother-in-law to talk. "William was positively incandescent when Meghan talked about Kate," said the source. "But Kate took the longer view and set about trying to find a way to bring her husband and brother-in-law to work things out."
Kate's uncle Gary Goldsmith (brother of her mother, Carole Middleton) told Closer magazine that his niece is a "brilliant arbiter and peacemaker" who has the unique ability to bring Harry back into the royal fold. He told the outlet: "If anyone can bring peace to the royals, Kate can." He added: "Every bone in her body is about making friends and doing the best she can … She's trying to mediate."
At the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral less than a month after the Oprah interview, in a gesture that sparked hundreds of news reports, Kate wordlessly managed to get William and Harry to talk on the way back to Windsor Castle when she stepped back from them and allowed them to walk on. The duchess also offered solace to an emotional Prince of Wales by putting an arm around her father-in-law as he emerged from the chapel. That day, Kate's innate skills as the Royal Family's source of comfort and peace showed what a powerful force she could be. "She was brilliant," said a royal insider.
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Kate is motivated by the fact that family and her marriage mean everything to her.
Having grown up in an extremely tight-knit family (Kate's sister, Pippa Matthews, remains her closest friend), Kate couldn't imagine Harry and Meghan being estranged from the Royal Family for good. "It's just not in her nature to not try to mend the relationship," said a royal insider.
In addition to wanting to restore her own bond with Harry, she knows it's critical that William resolve his differences with his brother for the future. "She understands the significance of a monarch having a sibling to confide in and rely on," said the source. "The Queen had Princess Margaret. She wants that for William. She know it would make him happy if he had his brother at his side when he ascends the throne."
But there is another reason Kate is trying to broker peace, which gets to the very heart of her love of family. "She is very much a product of her upbringing," said one insider. "She knows how important it is to feel loved by your family. She wants her children to know their cousins." The Cambridges reportedly saw Archie only a handful of times before the Sussexes moved to California. "When the new baby comes, there is hope that it will be an opportunity for the family to come together and heal," the source said.
RELATED: The Major Ways Baby Girl Sussex Could Change the Royal Family Forever.
Diane Clehane is a New York-based journalist and author of Imagining Diana and Diana: The Secrets of Her Style.
