ROYAL experts revealed the exact moment Prince William and Prince Harry’s relationship began to unravel in The Sun’s bombshell new documentary.
Growing up, the brothers shared many of the same friends and were part of a close, tight-knit circle – but it’s a different story now.
Prince Harry stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and relocated to California with Meghan Markle.
Their last reported in-person interaction was during the funeral of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022, but conversations were said to be brief.
The feuding brothers reportedly did not speak to each other despite standing “virtually back to back” among mourners at their uncle’s memorial service last year.
And there is no sign that the two warring siblings will reconcile anytime soon.
Now, experts have told of the exact moment their relationship began to unravel.
Speaking exclusively on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Katie Nicholl said: “I think the moment that we realised that there was tensions between the brothers was after I printed a story in Vanity Fair about William just urging Harry to take his time because they were engaged.
“Of course, William had taken many years before he proposed to Kate Middleton because he wanted her to be his wife. He wanted her to be able to know that this was what she wanted for her life too.
“And I think, you know, what was meant to be well-intended brotherly advice landed really badly with Harry.”
The royal correspondent added: “And I think it was the start of the real unravelling of their relationship.
“I mean, Harry really, it really hurt him that he felt he didn’t have his brother’s backing over Meghan.”
Royal expert Robert Jobson agreed, saying: “I think that William was, you know, like any brother, was probably just keeping an eye out for him by saying, do you think this is happening rather quickly?
“What do you really know about this girl? Should you not spend some more time getting to know her? Which had a bad reaction.
“He was really, really unhappy about that. He couldn’t reconcile himself about that.
“Post then, it’s just been a gradual unravelling of the relationship. I’d been told that at Christmas, when Harry and Meghan went to stay with William and Kate.
“Harry had complained to his brother that he wasn’t sort of making enough of a fuss at Meghan, wasn’t rolling out the red carpet, that she didn’t feel terribly welcome.
“These were things that myself and other journalists were picking up at the time.
“Once things had died down a bit after the wedding, I was told by people who’d been involved with the wedding, people who knew some of the senior members of the royal family, that actually all wasn’t really very well at all between Meghan and Harry and William and Kate.”
And Sarah Hewson said: “Between the two couples, the Cambridges and the Sussexes, the perception was that actually the problem was between the two wives, that Meghan and Catherine did not get on, that there was a clash between them, and that was where the problems came from.
“Actually, what we now know from Harry’s multiple accounts in Netflix and in Spare and in the various interviews that he’s given, that the issues were there between the two brothers, and they were there before Meghan came on the scene.
“Perhaps Meghan was more of a catalyst for Harry, saying, enough is enough, I want to go. But it didn’t start with Meghan – there were tensions there beforehand.”
Harry lobbed vile allegations against the Prince of Wales in his memoir Spare – and they are said to have not been in direct contact since the 2023 release.
In the book, he claimed William had physically attacked him and knocked him to the floor in 2019 and made insulting comments about Meghan.
The Sussexes had also targeted Princess Kate, when Meghan claimed the royal made her cry.
Prince William and Harry’s bond then worsened after the Sussexes made a number of accusations against the Royal Family in their 2022 Netflix docuseries.
The duke has given subsequent interviews, such as his most BBC chat in May 2025, that have only propelled bad blood.
