Prince William and Prince Harry at the Queen's funeral. Photo / AP
Prince William and Prince Harry at the Queen's funeral. Photo / AP
A bold new claim has suggested the bitter feud between Prince William and Prince Harry started due to actions made by William’s staff.
The Daily Mail has reported the Prince of Wales’s office “planted stories” about the Duke of Sussex in the press regarding his mental health, which sparked their feud.
In a new documentary set to air in the UK this weekend, the Sussexes’ preferred journalist, Omid Scobie, alleges it was “no coincidence” that reports of William’s concern for Harry emerged one day after the Californian-based royal confirmed a rift with his brother.
At the time of Harry’s claim, he and his wife Meghan Markle were touring South Africa and the duke appeared in an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby where he said he and William are “on different paths”.
“We are certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him as I know he will always be there for me,” Harry said during the interview. ‘We don’t see each other as much as we used to 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.”
It was the same interview where Meghan said she was “surviving not thriving”.
Harry and Meghan reunited with William and Kate at the Queen's funeral. Photo / AP
Following Harry’s interview, reports emerged claiming William was “worried about Harry’s mental health”, with Scobie insisting they were deliberately planted by William’s staff.
“I would say that it was no coincidence that it was shortly after that aired, even the next day, there were source quotes that came from a senior aide at Kensington Palace saying that William was worried about his brother’s mental health,” Scobie said.
“That fed off such an ugly thing for Harry, and it did not go unnoticed. Now whether William directed that or not, no one will ever know, but it came from his household that he is the boss of.”
Scobie went on to say the reports sowed the seeds for further division between the brothers. However, Daily Mail reported that he did not provide any evidence to support his claims.
The brothers have barely been seen together since Harry left his royal duties in 2020. Photo / Getty Images
Katie Nicholl, author of The New Royals – Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown, told US Weekly last month the Duke of Sussex’s decision to step back from royal duties in 2020 had a “huge impact” on William and his wife, Kate, the Princess of Wales, which is yet to be resolved.
“It was very difficult for William, and I think that’s partly why this rift hasn’t been resolved, because, you know, William can’t completely forgive Harry for what he’s done.
“It had a huge impact on him, on [Princess] Catherine, on their young family.” She added: “It put them in that prime sort of centre. It moved them centre stage far sooner than they would otherwise have been.
“I think William had always expected that he would have the support of his brother. And I think it wasn’t just that Harry had chosen to leave and to stand down. I think a lot of it was how he chose to do that and what William saw as great disrespect to the institution and to his family, to his grandmother.”
