William: I’ve put my arm around my brother all our lives. I can’t do it any more
PRINCE WILLIAM has talked of his ‘sadness’ over the rift with his brother, it was claimed last night.
In extraordinary comments to a friend – reported by The Sunday Times – William is said to have lamented that he can no longer ‘put his arm around’ Harry.
The future heir to the throne reportedly voiced his sorrow that the Royal Family is no longer a ‘team’ and acknowledged that he and Prince Harry are now ‘separate entities’.
The unprecedented expression of emotion comes as the Queen prepares for emergency peace talks tomorrow at Sandringham to heal the fractured Royal Family.
Prince William is said to have expressed the hope that he might be able to reunite with his brother, and work with him, in the future.
He reportedly told the friend: ‘I’ve put my arm around my brother all our lives and I can’t do that any more; we’re separate entities.’
He added: ‘I’m sad about that. All we can do, and all I can do, is try to support them and hope that the time comes when we’re all singing from the same page. I want everyone to play on the team.’
The changing relationship between the brothers appears to have been central to Prince Harry’s growing distance from the Royal Family.
Royal observers believe that Prince William’s advice to Harry to think carefully before marrying Meghan too quickly led to an estrangement that may never have fully healed.
In October, Prince Harry admitted he and William were travelling on ‘different paths’ and acknowledged there had been deepening tensions between them. After being asked by ITV’s Tom Bradby whether there was a rift between the Sussexes and the Cambridges, Prince Harry replied: ‘Part of this role, part of this job and this family being under the pressure it is under, inevitably stuff happens.’
He added: ‘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 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 and the majority of stuff is created out of nothing. As brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.’
There has been speculation that a recent portrait capturing a ‘slimmed-down’ version of the Royal Family released to mark the new decade may have been the final straw for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
In a separate article for today’s Sunday Times, Bradby warns that a further deterioration of the Sussexes’ relationship with the Royal Family could lead the couple to do a ‘no-holds barred’ interview that damages the monarchy even more. ‘I have some idea of what might be aired in a full interview,’ he writes. ‘I don’t think it would be pretty.’
‘All we can do – and all I can do – is to try to support them’