Friends Say Prince William Has No Plans to Speak to Prince Harry Anytime Soon

(Image credit: Getty)

published 18 December 2022

It is not a secret that brothers Prince William and Prince Harry have been on the outs for years—and, not surprisingly, the recent release of Harry & Meghan, Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s six-part docuseries for Netflix, is not helping mend fences any. According to friends, William has “no plans” to speak to Harry in the wake of the series’ release, and the relationship (or what little was left of it) may be done for good.

Both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have refused to comment on Harry & Meghan, in which it could be argued that William gets the vast majority of the Sussexes’ criticism leveled directly at him. In particular, Harry recounts the so-called “Sandringham summit,” where he said William left him terrified after screaming and shouting at him. Friends of William’s say William “has no intention of connecting with Harry anytime soon,” reports The Mirror, citing a source telling The Times “I don’t think a great deal has really surprised anyone. It has been pretty obvious that things have been very strained for a while. There is sadness at where things currently are with his brother.”

Despite reports that William wishes to ban Harry from father King Charles’ coronation on May 6, The Mirror reports that Charles “is said to be taking a reconciliatory approach to the situation,” and plans to invite Harry and Meghan to the event on May 6 at Westminster Abbey. (Whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend is unknown.) “The King also reportedly does not want to strip the Sussexes of their titles in the wake of the documentary,” the outlet reports, continuing “there remains speculation that the pair may give up their royal titles as the fallout from their Netflix docuseries continues to simmer.”

Now that William has apparently fully cut contact with his brother—as seen in the docuseries, at least at one point during their rift the brothers were still texting one another—it remains unclear whether the brothers’ tense relationship can ever recover. Royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah quotes sources in The Times (per Insider) as saying that William and Harry’s relationship had been “very strained for a while,” with a second source adding “the whole thing is mad.”

“The saddest part of it,” Harry said in the docuseries of his once-close relationship with his older brother, “was this wedge created between myself and my brother, so that he’s now on the institution’s side. And part of that, I get. I understand, right? That’s his inheritance.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.