WILLIAM’S FEARS FOR TROUBLED HARRY
Duke is ‘concerned’ as aide worries his brother is ‘fragile’ after that soul-baring TV interview
PRINCE William was last night said to be ‘ concerned’ for his brother Harry after he bared his soul in an emotional interview.
A source said William hoped Harry and his wife Meghan were ‘all right’ after both told of their struggles to cope as royals.
In the ITV documentary, the prince spoke of his mental health and his relationship with William, saying they have ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’ and are travelling on ‘different paths’.
Meghan revealed that friends had warned her about marrying into the Royal Family, while Harry described the way he dealt with the pressures of his life as a question of ‘constant management’. Describing how William felt at seeing his younger brother clearly upset in the programme, a senior royal source said: ‘He is concerned, as anyone would be watching the documentary.’
Insiders told the BBC that William was ‘worried’ about Harry, hopes he is ‘all right’, and thinks he and Meghan having a six-week break from royal duties was probably a ‘good thing’. An aide suggested the pair were in ‘a fragile place’.
But royal sources scotched talk of William being ‘furious’ about the
timing of the programme, which ITV began trailing toward the end of his own successful tour of Pakistan with his wife Kate.
One said: ‘Actually I just think there is a really deep sadness there. Things will never be the same again, clearly.’
The source added: ‘People will debate what he [Harry] said about their relationship, although the truth is, as he said, that they are on different paths and don’t see as much of each other as they used to.
‘But that doesn’t stop [him] being concerned about his brother. I think it would be difficult for anyone to see a member of their family talking like that on camera.’
Harry and Meghan’s interviews, which aired on Sunday night, triggered huge public debate about their roles in the Royal Family, with several commentators expressing concern for them, but one suggesting they should ‘stop whingeing’.
Harry admitted in the documentary that he and his brother, who were once inseparable, now have their ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’. But he insisted that he knows his brother will always be there for him, a suggestion that was repeated to the Mail by royal sources, who said that William, 37, would ‘always have his back’.
It is clear, however, that the two brothers’ relationship is unlikely ever to be the same again even if the ‘rift’ between them, which began in the run-up to Harry’s wedding last year, has been bridged by a fragile peace. No one the Mail spoke to yesterday could confirm whether William saw the documentary in advance.
A source in the Royal Household suggested the future king had watched it at home on Sunday night along with the rest of the nation. Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night. In the one-hour documentary, Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, presenter Tom Bradby followed the couple and their young son Archie on their tour of the continent.
Harry, 35, said he still felt grief over the death of his mother Diana, describing it as ‘a wound that festers’.
Meghan, a 38-year- old former actress from California, admitted she struggled with becoming a new mother under the glare of the media spotlight, saying: ‘Not many people have asked if I’m OK.’
She said her British friends had warned her about marrying into the Royal Family because of the scrutiny she would face, and admitted that adjusting to royal life had been ‘hard’. She said: ‘I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I tried, I really tried. But I think what that does internally is probably really damaging.’
Of his relationship with William, Harry said: ‘Part of this role, part of this job and this family being under the pressure it is under, inevitably stuff happens.
‘But look, 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 and, as I know, he will always be there for me.’
The ITV documentary came just weeks after Harry launched an extraordinary attack on the Press, comparing recent media coverage of his wife to that of his late mother and saying: ‘My deepest fear is history repeating itself.’
Royal author Penny Junor said Harry’s decision to talk about his and Meghan’s struggles was a ‘huge mistake’, adding: ‘My advice would be to keep his head down, and I’m afraid to say, stop whingeing.’