Prince William and Harry's Rift Is as Damaging as Diana's Death

published 4 October 2020

According to one royal expert, Prince William and Prince Harry's feud will go down in history as one of the royal family's biggest scandals of all time.
In his upcoming book, Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, royal biographer Robert Lacey digs deep into the brothers' ongoing rift.
In an interview, Lacey compared the impact of Will and Harry's feud to Princess Diana's death.

Prince William and Prince Harry's relationship has been strained for a while now and, according to a royal expert, the brothers' ongoing rift could have a devastating impact on the royal family long-term.

According to Robert Lacey, a royal historian and biographer whose upcoming book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult will dive deep into the royal brothers' long-rumored feud, says their drama will go down as one of the royal family's biggest scandals ever. For the book, Lacey spoke to "countless" royal insiders to get the real story behind the breakdown of Will and Harry's relationship.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Lacey explained that William and Harry's feud will have a huge effect on the future of the royal family and even went so far as to compare its impact to the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana.

"If this breach between the brothers is not healed in some way it will come to stand with the abdication crisis and the death of Diana as one of the traumas that changed the monarchy," Lacey said.

Lacey was also incredibly candid in his assessment of the royal family's treatment of Harry's wife, Meghan Markle.

"There is only one self-made millionaire in the Royal Family and that is Meghan Markle," Lacey said. "If they had sat down with her at the start and said, 'Let’s talk about the things you are interested in', things might have been different....She was never going to be a routine royal."

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.