Bradby and Wills’ friendship
Duke upset that ITV newsman is ‘mouthpiece’ for Harry’s grumbles
PRINCE William has broken off his close friendship with ITV anchorman Tom Bradby over the presenter’s support for his estranged brother, Prince Harry.
The future king has been left annoyed that the highprofile presenter – host of ITV’s News at Ten – has sided with his brother and sister-in-law Meghan in the increasingly bitter transatlantic war of the Windsors.
A royal insider told MailOnline: ‘The friendship between William and Tom is very much over. The duke feels let down by Bradby and the way he’s acted over the past few months. William is a sensitive soul and believes it’s in times of crisis when you find out who your true friends are. It would be fair to say Bradby hasn’t been one of them.’
Last year the Daily Mail revealed palace aides were deeply concerned about Mr Bradby’s 2019 documentary with the Sussexes, during which Meghan memorably said no one ever asked her if she was ‘OK’ and Harry confirmed tensions with his older brother.
William was said to be worried by Harry’s evident unhappiness when he watched the programme and both the prince and royal advisers felt strongly that the journalist had taken advantage of Harry’s ‘clear vulnerability’.
They were also aggrieved by briefings Mr Bradby later gave about Harry and Meghan feeling they had been ‘driven out’ of the Royal Family.
Last year Bradby wrote in the Sunday Times: ‘The fallout began at the time of the wedding in 2018. Really damaging things were said and done. The atmosphere soured hard and early, but few meaningful attempts were made by anyone to heal the wounds.
‘There is no doubt Harry and Meghan feel they have been driven out.’
Later, however, he claimed to want to distance himself from the furore, saying: ‘I found myself dragged into a
maelstrom which I didn’t particularly enjoy and which was quite stressful ... They have got their story to tell and one day they may tell it. I just don’t want to be involved any more.’
In January sources made clear to the Mail that they were incredibly unhappy at Mr Bradby’s apparent ‘cashing in’ on his royal friendships when he gave an interview to Alan Titchmarsh to publicise a book he was bringing out.
In it he claimed Harry was ‘heartbroken’ over his rift with his family. A senior royal source said at the time: ‘Surely it would have been better, if this is what Harry feels, that he had said this to his family rather than a journalist.’
Mr Bradby’s wife, jewellery designer Claudia, also recently colluded in a four-page spread with a ‘pro’ Harry and Meghan publication, the US magazine People, penning ‘Your Guide To Being A Royal Wedding Guest’.
Mr Bradby, 54, first got to know Harry when he collaborated with him on a documentary about Lesotho during his gap year after leaving Eton. He went on to attend his 2018 wedding to Meghan.
But he had also enjoyed a warm friendship with William and was hand-picked to conduct his and Kate’s first joint interview after they announced their engagement in 2010, as well as being a guest at their 2011 nuptials. But William’s trust has now apparently been lost, with growing anger at the way Mr Bradby and ITV News seem to have become a ‘mouthpiece’ for Harry and Meghan’s gripes about the Royal Family.
The broadcaster won the right to air the Sussexes incendiary interview with Oprah Winfrey in the UK and it has been claimed – although not confirmed – that Mr Bradby had a hand in this.
Sources say there had been no ‘dramatic’ fall-out but there has been no communication between William and Mr Bradby for some time, and it is unlikely there will be again in the future.
A source was quoted as saying yesterday: ‘The duke will, of course, remain cordial and professional in his relations with senior media figures, but that special relationship he once had with Bradby is no more. William no longer sees him as a friend.’
A friend of William said: ‘Tom has been a stalwart friend who has done his best to try to bring the brothers closer. Neither Tom or William will ever say anything which would disrespect their friendship.’
Kensington Palace and ITV News declined to comment.
‘Cordial and professional’