Prince William and Harry ‘completely’ cut contact for months at one point and their relationship will take a long time to heal, a royal biographer has claimed.
Omid Scobie, who co-wrote the tell-all biography Finding Freedom, said William was furious after Harry and wife Meghan Markle publicly announced their decision to step back from royal life.
The royal correspondent said the brothers’ relationship ‘is going to take some time to heal’ and that the future king, believed the Sussexes were ‘damaging the Royal Family’s reputation’.
Mr Scobie also said that tension arose between Meghan and Kate, after the Duchess of Sussex felt she was not supported by her sister-in-law during some of her ‘darker moments’ in the public eye – in particular during her pregnancy.
In a True Royalty TV interview, which will be aired later today, The Sun reported that the catalyst for the brothers’ rift was when the Sussexes posted plans to move abroad and start fresh on Instagram.
The writer said their statements were reportedly not approved by the family before publication and that the distance between William and Harry subsequently ‘grew wider and wider’.
He said the brothers didn’t speak for months around the time of the Sandringham ‘crisis’ summit, when senior royals had to work out the details of Harry and Meghan’s departure.
On the couple’s plans to step down from royal duties, Mr Scobie said: ‘I think really where it went wrong for Harry and Meghan and the Cambridges was that decision to go public with the road map to their new working model.’
He added: ‘The statements weren’t discussed internally. That’s really what caused the most amount of hurt to William, because he wears two hats’.
‘It put family business out into the public domain when it should’ve been discussed privately and there was a lot of hurt there that continues to this day,’ he added.
One source told the paper the fallout is ‘serious’ and that the brothers now hardly speak, while Kate and Meghan apparently ‘don’t communicate personally at all’ anymore.
It is understood that there had been rising tensions between the Sussexes and Cambridges for some months before Harry and Meghan announced plans to quit royal working life in January.
Mr Scobie also claims that the Royal Family would ‘stop at nothing to make Meghan’s life difficult’, in particular over the departure of their PA and in the run-up to their wedding.
The writer said that Harry angrily called the Queen to complain about her dresser Angela Kelly, claiming that she was deliberately dragging her feet in helping Meghan decide what tiara to wear.
He claimed Harry called his grandmother saying: ‘I don’t know what the hell is going on. This woman needs to make this work for my future wife.’
The claims come after Harry and Meghan bought a £11 million nine-bedroom mansion in Santa Barbara, California, and will count Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres as neighbours.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.