Princess Kate Reportedly Confronted Prince Harry Hours Before Queen Elizabeth’s Funeral

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle during the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth in September 2022 — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Funerals are a tense time anyway, but, according to OK, the tension surrounding Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022 was palpable—particularly between Prince Harry and the new Princess of Wales. The outlet reports that Kate cornered Harry, confronting him hours before Her late Majesty’s funeral on September 19.

“Kate knew this was the only time she could talk to Harry before he closed himself off from the family again,” a source said. “After all, with so much going on between them, there was going to be zero chance at the actual ceremony.”

By September 2022, tensions had long simmered between Harry and Prince William, in particular. The Oprah Winfrey interview did nothing to quell it, and the impending release of the Harry & Meghan docuseries on Netflix and Harry’s memoir, Spare, in January didn’t help, either. Harry and Meghan Markle happened to be in the U.K. taking part in engagements when the late Queen’s health rapidly declined, and two days after her death, on September 10, both couples—William and Kate and Harry and Meghan—took part in a joint walkabout together at Windsor Castle, which Kate later called one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do.

Again, funerals are cesspools for tension anyway, even if there isn’t familial conflict, and even if the entire world isn’t watching. The alleged confrontation between Harry and Kate was especially sad, considering how close the two once were—Harry considered Kate less of a sister-in-law and more of a sister, and the affection went both ways.

“Kate never thought in a million years that Harry would hurt his own family [like] this,” they said. “Harry and Kate were once so tight, and she can’t forget that. It feels like she also lost a brother in all this mess, and she wanted to ask Harry one very simple question: ‘Why did you betray us?’”

OK reports that, though Spare was still four months out from publication, the family knew that it would be a tell-all. And, as bad as relations seemed in September 2022, the outlet reports that the conflict has now reached “nuclear levels” of bitterness.

“It’s a classic case of conflict resolution,” said royal expert Dr. Ed Owens. “Conflict resolution requires an understanding on the part of both parties and a desire to find common ground. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a deep enough desire on either side to find that common ground at the moment. Time is often the healer, and in terms of their finding common ground, it’s something that might happen further down the line. But at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a deep enough desire to find that common ground or a desire to be understanding on both sides for there to be sort of any successful resolution. What it would take is for some conciliatory force to work as a mediator between the two groups. But that’s only going to happen behind closed doors. It’s not as if there’s going to be a public conversation.”

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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.