Prince Harry and Prince William may no longer be on speaking terms, but it seems that on paper, the brothers were one close growing up. While they were often seen smiling, laughing and teasing each other, one ex royal-butler has claimed that their relationship was always “complicated”, as a result of their different royal destinities.
Paul Burrell, who knew Harry and William when they were children as part of his role as Princess Diana’s royal butler and friend, said that while William knew he was going to be King one day, Harry, now 40, did not have a set royal role. They also had different personalities, which meant that their relationship was not always easy.
As exclusively revealed to Express.co.uk, Burrell said on behalf of Casino: “Harry and William both have very different personalities.”
He continued: “William, as a child, was very studious, quite shy and careful, and measured. Harry was the reverse; Harry was the joker, the wild card, and was always having fun.
“Harry would be the one to take the TV set and pull all the cables and bulbs out from it and then wonder why he couldn’t put it all back together again.
“So, two very different boys growing up in a similar world, and it wasn’t easy for Harry; it was a lot easier and plain sailing for William. His map was already made, and Harry’s wasn’t. So, it was a complicated relationship, but their childhood was the idyllic part of it.”
Burrell, who served as a footman for the late Queen before spending a decade working for the late Diana, Princess of Wales up until her death in 1997, also said that Harry was able to “play up a little more” due to the fact that he was a “spare” rather than someone who would one day wear the crown.
However, while their future royal roles may have been different, Harry and William’s mother reportedly still treated them the same regardless of their position in the line of succession.
Burrell revealed: “Diana brought up the boys equally. There was no difference between them in her eyes.”
Until Harry quit royal life in 2020, William and his brother seemed to have a friendly relationship, which only appeared to fracture just before Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018.
However, it is believed the brothers now no longer speak following the release of Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare in 2023, in which Harry spoke about William in a very critical way.