According to one royal expert, Prince William won't be the one ending his estrangement from Prince Harry anytime soon—because of one particular comment his younger brother made about his wife. Robert Hardman, the author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, told Us Weekly that William believes Harry made a "blatant attack" on Kate Middleton, which he considers the "lowest of the low."
RELATED: The Crown Star Reveals Why Prince Harry Stopped Speaking to Him: "I Said Too Much."
In the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, released in December 2022, Harry said (via Business Insider), "For so many people in the family, especially obviously the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mold as opposed to somebody who you perhaps are destined to be with ... The difference between making decisions with your head, or your heart." He added, "My mom certainly made most of her decisions, if not all of them, from her heart. And I am my mother's son."
Harry did not name names as to which royals he doesn't believe married for love. But Hardman says that William interpreted it as a slight against his own marriage. "On top of all the other breaches of trust, here was Harry making a blatant attack on Catherine. For William, this was the lowest of the low," Hardman writes in his book.
The author told Us Weekly in a new interview, "Clearly it bit deep, both the remarks in the Netflix six-parter with Harry and Meghan [Markle], but also in Harry’s book, Spare. Casting any sort of doubt, I think, on your brother’s choice of wife is clearly asking for trouble."
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As reported by Time, in his January 2023 memoir Spare, Harry wrote about disagreements that the two couples had, including Middleton supposedly being offended when Markle commented that she had "baby brain" after welcoming her son, Prince Louis. There was also a discussion that Markle and Middleton had about Princess Charlotte's outfit for Markle and Harry's wedding, a conversation which left Markle in tears. British publications originally reported that it was Markle who had made Middleton cry.
Additionally, Harry claimed that after the four royals appeared at the Royal Foundation Forum in 2018 and Markle made headlines for her political statements, Middleton was "on edge" when she realized she was "going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg."
Hardman told Us Weekly that while Harry has said he is "waiting for an apology," it is "a two-way process." He added, "You’d have to ask [William] if it’s unforgivable.”
"Harry and Meghan have very understandable grievances about royal life, about the way they feel they were treated, both by the institution, by Britain, by the press,” the writer said. “I get all that, but at a personal level, I think there’s a lot of issues that didn’t need to be put out there that Harry has put out and that’s going to take time to work through."
Various reports have come out about the state of Harry and William's relationship following Harry and Markle stepping down as senior royals in January 2020 and moving to the U.S. Among these are claims that William uses the press to sabotage Harry and that William and Middleton refuse to be in the same room as Harry and Meghan.
As Us Weekly reports, there is increased tension due to a Dutch version of Omid Scobie's book, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival, listing King Charles III and Middleton as the people who questioned what color their son Prince Archie's skin was going to be before he was born. (Markle and Harry told this story in their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey but did not reveal who had made the remarks.)
A source told Us that Middleton was "saddened" by the claim and added, "This has closed the door on any reconciliation with Meghan as far as Kate is concerned. She has had enough of Meghan’s antics and wants absolutely nothing to do with her. She will never make up with her."
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