Shedding light on the stark reality of Prince Harry and Prince William’s heartbreaking rift is the fact that, come September, it will have been four years since the two, once inseparable brothers, are believed to have spoken a single word to one another.
Having been forced together for perhaps the final time to mark the passing of their grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, at her funeral in 2022, the chasm between the siblings appears only to have widened with widespread reports that William could even strip Harry and his wife Meghan Markle of their royal titles when he takes over the throne.
However, we’re now told there could be light at the end of what has been a long, dark tunnel for the Royal Family for several reasons since, as a source says the family’s renowned peacekeeper, Kate Middleton, could be set to force the brothers into a UK showdown this summer.
Far from wanting to fuel any drama, we’re told that Kate, 44, had been biding her time in the hope that William, 43, and Harry, 41, would ‘find a way back to each other’. But now that it remains clear that they remain thousands of miles apart both physically and emotionally, the source says Kate now fears it’s now or never.
‘In her view the longer they wait to deal with this, the worse it’s getting. She’s even said she fears that this could be the last chance because the longer this goes on, the more the hurt stacks up, and at some point there’s just too much water under the bridge,’ the insider says.
‘Kate never imagined this feud would drag on for so many years. In the beginning, like everyone else, she assumed there would be a cooling-off period and eventually they’d find their way back to each other.
‘Instead, the opposite has happened. Every year that passes they seem to get further apart. It might not be quite so heartbreaking if they’d always been at odds, but they used to be so close, they were two peas in a pod.’
Kate is keen for the brothers to repair the years of hurt ©Getty Images
Meanwhile, it has been reported that King Charles, 77, is also keen for his sons to reconcile, with Harry previously revealing how the monarch had begged them, ‘Please boys, don’t make my final years a misery.
Charles’ plea came at the funeral of Prince Philip in 2021, but five years on and Harry and William’s feud is not only more bitter than ever, but also comes amidst the King’s own battle with cancer, for which he continues to receive treatment for.
And the source says that both Charles and Kate can’t accept the reality that the brothers, who have been through so much, will never speak again.
‘She and Charles are on the same page, they can’t stand by and just accept that these two may never even speak again. It just feels too unbearably sad,’ the insider says.
‘[Kate] worries about what the weight of all this anger and bitterness is doing to William but she’s even more worried about Harry, she’s convinced he’s really suffering right now, she’s said he looks increasingly unhappy in the photos she sees of him.’
Meanwhile, William is widely reported to remain ‘furious’ at both the path Harry has taken in teaming with Netflix (the streaming giant behind the controversial royal drama The Crown), but most predominantly, over his younger brother’s explosive tell-alls.
Not only has he publicly referred to William as his ‘arch nemesis’, but through his memoir, Spare, he alleged that William had physically assaulted him in a fight over Meghan. For a celebrity biography, this would have been explosive, but when it comes to tell-alls about the future King of England, the consequences could undoubtedly have been devastating for the monarchy as a whole.
Charles agrees with Kate and wants the feud to end ©Getty Images
Kate, too, was dragged into the furore, being described as ‘cold’ and unwelcoming to Meghan, and further alleged by royal author Omid Scobie – who was widely reported to have been close with Meghan in particular – to have been the ‘royal racist’ who raised questions about the skin colour of Meghan and Harry’s then unborn first child, Prince Archie, now seven. Scobie denied this and claimed it had been an editing error and the Royal Family have strenuously denied any claims of racism.
So it may come as little surprise that we’re told William is not likely to be receptive to any plan for him to reconcile with his brother. And if they were to come face-to-face, the source says only Harry ‘begging’ for forgiveness would perhaps nudge William towards a truce.
The insider says, ‘It’s hard to imagine William will react well to this. He isn’t going to tell Kate what she can and can’t do, that has never been their dynamic, so it won’t be a case of her asking permission, but no doubt this is going to rock the boat.
‘William is not going to change his position first, it will take Harry swallowing all pride and essentially begging. That’s hard to imagine, but Kate and Charles feel that it’s possible once he realises all that he will gain by getting William back on side.’
With Harry expected to land in the UK next month, no official meetings with any members of his family have been confirmed, although a US publication claimed last week that Meghan and their children Archie and Lilibet, five, will not be joining him.
Yet while Harry’s solo trip could provide the perfect opportunity for the estranged brothers to meet, the source says Kate is biding her time before presenting the idea to William, and could arrange the meeting with Harry first in the hope that William won’t completely shut it down.
‘Kate has not broached the subject with William head on yet, she’s tiptoeing around it, and to be fair no meeting has been set, yet. Once something is on the books odds are she will tell William, she’s not the type who would lie,’ the source says.
‘That’s why this is all being kept hush hush for now. She and Charles are both dreading William’s reaction but they just don’t feel like they can ignore this any longer.’
Kate and Harry always got along well ©Getty Images
Meanwhile, in a heartbreakingly poignant twist, the memory of William and Harry’s mother, Diana, could also play a role in finally bringing the brothers back together.
Having been an incredibly protective and doting mother, Diana’s former butler and close friend Paul Burrell previously said the Princess would have been ‘devastated’ by their rift.
He added, ‘If their mother was here today, she would bring them back together…It was very important to her that they stayed close’.
Now we’re told that Kate echoes her late mother-in-law’s sentiment and feels it’s a ‘travesty’ that must be reversed – sooner rather than later.
‘Next August will mark 30 years since Diana’s passing and here are her boys not even willing to be in the same room. Kate feels that’s such a travesty and she can’t let it happen,’ the insider says.
‘It’s true they always had their battles and their differences but they were still incredibly bonded, that’s how their mom raised them, she always wanted William to look out for Harry.’
Since meeting William at university, Kate also developed such a close bond with Harry that he has previously referred to her as ‘the sister I never had’, with the pair reported to share a cheeky sense of humour, with Kate reported to have once gifted a single Harry a ‘grow-your-own-girlfriend’ kit for Christmas.
Now, the insider says that ahead of any potential meeting between Harry and William, Kate plans to speak with her brother-in-law first to make clear how delicate this situation is for them all and try to speak ‘sense’ to him.
We’re told, ‘She wants to meet with him face to face and find out and she wants to try and talk sense into him. She does feel he’s the one that should be the first to apologise since he is the one that wrote such terrible things [in Spare] about William.
‘Not that she will dare say that directly to Harry, she will take a much more diplomatic tact. She knows how sensitive Harry can be. Whether it works or not remains to be seen but she’s dead set on giving this her all.’
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