Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Friends Have “Severed Ties” With Them Over Family Drama

Their inner circle reportedly feels forced to choose between the two brothers.

As Prince Harry and Prince William’s feud continues with no resolution in sight, the brothers are having to navigate the fallout from their estrangement. Considering Harry and William haven’t seen each other since their father’s coronation in May 2023, longtime friends are reportedly feeling pressured to choose between the Duke of Sussex and Prince of Wales—and it isn’t looking good for Harry. A royal expert says many of the brothers’ old friends are deciding to side with William, leading to “severed” ties with many of Harry’s close pals.

During an appearance on the Vanity Fair podcast Dynasty: The Royal Family’s Most Challenging Year, royal correspondent Katie Nicholl said it was clear that lines were being drawn in the sand when Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, was forced to choose between the brothers for his wedding in June. Both Harry and William were reportedly both invited initially, but the Duke of Sussex apparently had a conversation with his childhood friend where they mutually decided it was best if Harry and Meghan Markle declined the invitation to avoid any potential tension.

Nicholl said, “I think if you look back to that recent society wedding of the Duke of Westminster, it was William who got the invite to that, and Harry was invited because they’ve been friends forever and a day, but he was basically asked to stand down from that wedding because it would have been very awkward to have had the two brothers at a society wedding like that, together.”

The royal expert claimed that this wasn’t an isolated incident, sharing, “I remember being told by someone at the Palace there was this sense that you had to put your stake in one camp or the other.”

She revealed that Harry and Meghan’s circle of friends has dwindled as a result, adding, “I think the ties have been severed. I think there is a sense that, possibly, friends, close friends, society friends, celebrity friends have sort of had to make a little bit of a choice.

While the Suits actress has been busy making new friends and connections in Montecito, including jetting out to the Hamptons for the star-studded G9 Summer Summit, Prince Harry reportedly feels nostalgic for his old life and circle in the U.K.

“He misses his Old Etonian [college] and army friends, many of whom have not visited as they don’t get on with Meghan,” Tom Quinn, royal expert and author of Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family, previously told The Mirror.