Prince William Reportedly "Ordered" Plane to Leave Without Harry

Prince William, Princess Catherine, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry at Windsor — (Image credit: Getty)

When news broke that the Queen was unwell on Sept. 8, her family members rushed to be at her side when she passed away.

But apparently, Prince William wasn't willing to wait for Prince Harry to arrive before starting the journey to see his grandmother one last time.

In a new chapter for Tom Bower's Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, the royal author writes, "At Meghan’s suggestion, Harry insisted that he would be accompanied by his wife—and that plan was broadcast to journalists at 1:53 p.m." (via the Mirror).

Bower continues, "Meghan’s expectation was astonishing. For four years she had rejected the Queen’s invitations to visit Balmoral but, in her last hours of life, Meghan eagerly sought to make the journey. Firmly, Harry was told that Meghan was not welcome.

"Unwilling to waste more time, William ordered the RAF jet to take off at 2:39 p.m. Harry was left to hire his own plane and make the journey alone. He landed in Scotland at 6:46 p.m., 14 minutes after the Queen’s death had been announced to the public. She had died at 3:10 p.m."

It's fair to say the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry is at its worst right now, as Harry prepares to make a series of potentially damaging revelations about his older brother in his upcoming memoir, Spare, and in the two accompanying TV interviews he is giving.

In a copy of Spare seen by the Guardian, Prince Harry notably makes the incendiary claim that William physically attacked him at his home in London in 2019. It's likely we can expect a lot more shocking claims like this one in his memoir, which comes out Jan. 8.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.