Since past is prologue, I expected a lot of focus on Prince William this week, following the Sussexes’ UK visit last week. That’s what happened last September – Prince Harry had a wildly successful visit to the UK (and then Ukraine), met his dad for the first time in a year and a half, and got great press. What followed was William clearly having a nervous breakdown about all of that, and the British press could barely contain it. So I expected something similar this month. But what’s happening is very strange, it’s like there’s an overemphasis on reminding everyone about the intractable estrangement between the brothers, something which has not changed in over many years. We’re also being told that William “will not be losing sleep” over King Charles’ meeting with Harry, despite William’s clear panic over it. Well, this week’s People Magazine cover story is trying to cover this well-trod ground for the millionth time:
Prince Harry’s long-awaited reunion with King Charles may have marked a turning point in one royal relationship — but not the one with Prince William.
“It’s so broken,” an insider tells PEOPLE about the bond between the King’s sons in this week’s exclusive cover story.
Adds a source who knows both brothers: “I thought it would have perhaps eased a little bit by now, to be honest. But there has been no movement, especially on William’s side. There is no contact.”
Though Prince William, 44, and Prince Harry, 41, stepped out just 12 miles apart in London on July 7, the first day of Harry’s U.K. trip, there was never an expectation they would meet.
The distance that divides the brothers now extends to the next generation. The Prince and Princess of Wales’ children — Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8 — have no relationship with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, their California-based first cousins.
“[Princess] Diana would be devastated that it has turned out like this, particularly because [the brothers] were once so close,” royal author Simon Vigar says of what William and Harry’s late mother would make of the situation.
Royal historian Robert Lacey previously told PEOPLE: “The rift is very profound and very long-lasting. It will not be changed, in my opinion, until Harry makes a move and apologizes.”
Complicating the dynamic, historian Amanda Foreman added, “Everyone wants it to happen on their terms, but that’s what makes it impossible.”
It’s fascinating that they keep using that Robert Lacey quote: “It will not be changed, in my opinion, until Harry makes a move and apologizes.” Combined with this new quote: “But there has been no movement, especially on William’s side.” We get it. I mean, it’s abundantly clear. William is still incandescent with rage. William will not contact Harry. William wants Harry to come crawling back, begging for forgiveness, and until that happens, William will not budge. That’s been William’s perspective for over six years. It’s like it would not occur to anyone within the institution or within the royal media to point out that William’s perspective is BS, and that he’s a rageholic dumbass who needs to grow up and let go of his anger.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
