Harry and William’s relationship is now ‘hanging by a thread’: Insiders reveal King Charles is trying to keep a line of communication open with his son despite memoir – but Prince of Wales is unlikely ‘to be so receptive’ to his brother
- Prince Harry and Prince William’s relationship ‘hanging by a thread’, say sources
- It will likely be further damaged by attacks on Cambridge’s in Harry’s memoir
- Book ‘tough on William’ and include a description of a fight between the brothers
- King hurt by Harry’s actions – but he wants to keep line of communication open
The relationship between the Prince of Wales and his estranged brother is ‘hanging by a thread’ ahead of the publication of Harry’s tell-all memoir, sources have said.
Insiders fear the strained relationship between the brothers is likely to be further damaged by attacks on Prince William and his wife Kate in the controversial book, due out next week.
The memoir is said to be ‘tough on William’ and include a description of a fight between the brothers, as well as ‘a broadside’ against Kate.
The princes’ father King Charles is said to fare better than his eldest son, but is already wounded by criticisms of him and other senior royals in Harry’s Netflix series with wife Meghan.
The relationship between the Prince of Wales and his estranged brother is ‘hanging by a thread’ ahead of the publication of Harry’s tell-all memoirPictured: Prince William (second right) Kate, Princess of Wales (right) Prince Harry (left) and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (second left_, leave after they paid their respects to Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall for the Lying-in State in September
Insiders fear the strained relationship between the brothers is likely to be further damaged by attacks on Prince William and his wife Kate in the controversial book. Pictured: Prince William and Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle on September 10
Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare is due to be released next week
Sources say that while the King is deeply hurt and bewildered by Harry’s actions, he is still keen to keep a line of communication open, however guarded. ‘Whether Prince William would be so receptive is another question,’ one source said.
‘Things are hanging by a thread as it is after the past few months, and from the sounds of it Harry’s memoir is unlikely to help.’
The Daily Mail has previously reported that while friends find it hard to believe that the brothers will never talk again after all they have been through, William feels betrayed and angered by his brother’s constant attacks on the Royal Family.
There is also deep concern that anything they say privately could be made public by Harry or Meghan.
While Buckingham Palace is refusing to comment or get caught up in a ‘pointless tit for tat’ public row with the Sussexes, there is a degree of ‘apprehension’ about Harry’s memoir.
A source with knowledge of the book, provocatively titled Spare, told The Sunday Times they believed it would cause irrevocable damage to the brothers’ relationship.
The source said: ‘Generally, I think the book [will be] worse for them than the Royal Family is expecting. Everything is laid bare. Charles comes out of it better than I expected, but it’s tough on William in particular, and even Kate gets a bit of a broadside.
‘There are these minute details, and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this.’
Harry shows Meghan a text he has received from William following their Oprah interview as shown on Netflix series Harry & Meghan
The Duke of Sussex and Duke of Cambridge during the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, on what would have been her 60th birthday on July 1, 2021
In the Harry & Meghan Netflix series, Harry, 38, accused his father of lying to him as the family attempted to negotiate a ‘Megxit’ deal for the couple at a crisis summit at Sandringham in January 2020.
He said that it was ‘terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply weren’t true and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in’.
He also claimed that senior royals were jealous of Meghan’s popularity and attempted to tear her down by planting negative stories against her in the media.
The Sunday Times source said the book – due to be published on January 10 – explored Harry’s grief over the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
They said: ‘The overall impression is that this is a man who has never recovered from the trauma of his mother dying so young, and then along comes Meghan and he projects on to her a parallel with Diana.’
Spare is written by JR Moehringer, a Pulitzer prize-winning former journalist who was also the ghost writer for Andre Agassi’s best-selling autobiography.
The book’s publisher Penguin Random House claims that it will be a ‘landmark publication’, telling his story with ‘raw, unflinching honesty’.
Harry is also expected to give two high-profile television interviews to promote it.
He has reportedly already recorded an ITV interview in California with its News At Ten presenter Tom Bradby, a former royal correspondent who has known both William and Harry for decades.
The second television interview will be with broadcaster CBS in the US. It will be conducted by news anchor Anderson Cooper and is set to be shown on Sunday.
Publishing sources also said Harry was expected to do at least one newspaper interview, potentially with The New York Times. Buckingham Palace is expected to maintain its silence about his accusations. But they are unlikely to end with his memoir.
After quitting as working royals, Harry and Meghan struck lucrative deals with Netflix, Spotify and Penguin Random House which commit them to further projects. Their publishing deal is understood to be for four books, which could include a bombshell memoir by Meghan.
The duchess, 41, is known to have kept a personal diary while she was in Britain.
She has previously released a children’s book, The Bench, with the same publisher and the couple are said to be working on a book about ‘wellness’. But some have warned there could be a danger of over-exposure, following their Oprah interview, the Netflix series and Harry’s memoir.
One senior Hollywood executive told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If I was advising her I would caution against releasing a book too quickly because there is a very real danger that people will start experiencing ‘Sussex fatigue’.
‘There comes a point where people might feel they’ve heard the same stories too many times. They have to change the narrative at some stage and focus on the future rather than the past.’
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