Inside Prince William and Prince Harry’s troubled sibling relationship

Around a third of siblings are believed to experience the effects of childhood rivalry – and Prince William and Prince Harry are no exception.

But what started off as friendly competition now appears to have deepened into a rift ‘beyond repair’ as it emerged the pair will not walk shoulder to shoulder at Prince Philip’s funeral today.

The brothers will be separated by cousin Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, as they walk behind the Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin in a procession at Windsor Castle after the 99-year-old Queen’s consort died last Friday.

However, it is hoped the funeral – attended by just 30 loved ones in line with coronavirus restrictions – might offer a chance for William, 38, and Harry, 36, to reconcile.

And it comes as reports suggest the pair are ‘keen to spend time together as a family’ after bidding Prince Philip a final farewell.

Harry and William are set to come face to face for the first time since Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Buckingham Palace insiders say the siblings have vowed to put their differences aside to support the Queen as she mourns her husband of 73 years.

Kate Middleton is acting as ‘peacekeeper’ between her husband and brother in-law, according to the Telegraph.

And the Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is said to be ‘hopeful of a resolution.’

The brothers, then aged 15 and 12, were united in grief after their mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.

William told how the trauma helped him to bond with Harry in an interview aired during the 20^th anniversary year of the tragedy.

‘We have been brought closer because of the circumstances as well, that’s the thing. You are uniquely bonded because of what we’ve been through,’ he said.

The pair poked fun at each other in public – but joined forces to work on charity projects.

But Harry later revealed how their relationship had become fractured, describing how they had ‘good days and bad days’.

Their fragile bond was said to be left hanging by a thread after the explosive Oprah Winfrey chat, when Harry and Meghan told how she had been abandoned by the monarchy while struggling with her mental health.

The couple also accused an unnamed royal – clarifying it was not the Queen or Duke of Edinburgh – of raising concerns about son Archie’s skin colour ahead of his birth in May 2019.

William insisted ‘We are very much not a racist family’ when quizzed about the interview.

Harry’s treatment of the Queen is said to have been the ‘final straw’ for the future King according to reports.

The pair once had an ‘unbreakable bond’, according to royal expert Amanda Platell.

‘Yet break that bond has,’ she wrote in the Daily Mail.

‘It has been shattered by Harry’s swift and unexpected departure from his royal duties to live in the US, and by the incendiary interview he and his wife gave to Oprah Winfrey in California as ‘Grandpa’ lay gravely ill in hospital.’

It may take ‘many, many years’ for William to forgive Harry, Ms Platell added.

But some behind the scenes are said to be urging the brothers to put the past behind them.

Harry is reportedly set to return home to wife Meghan – who is pregnant with their second child and has been advised not to fly– hours after the funeral.

He once said of his older brother: ‘We are brothers. We will always be brothers.

‘We are certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him as I know he will always be there for me.

‘We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we are so busy but I love him dearly.’

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