Princess Eugenie helped bridge the gap between Prince Harry and the royal family while Queen Elizabeth was on her deathbed. Despite Harry's dramatic move to the U.S., Eugenie and the Duke of Sussex remained close, and according to Omid Scobie, the princess of York kept her cousin updated on Her Majesty's health.
In Scobie's new biography, Endgame, he claimed Eugenie contacted Harry to tell him it was Elizabeth's "time."
OK! previously reported Scobie publicized that William wasn't responding to Harry's texts around the time of the monarch's passing.
“With no further information from other family members or Palace aides, the Sussexes and their team had to operate in the dark,” Scobie wrote.
“It was upsetting to witness,” a source close to the Sussexes was quoted saying. “[Harry] was completely by himself on this.”
As the royal family visited Elizabeth, Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, wasn't allowed to pay her respects.
King Charles "assured him that Kate would not be there either," Scobie penned.
“Charles had cited ‘protocol,’ but the reality was that Kate chose to stay back to pick up the children from their first day at a new school," he explained. “[Meghan] could sense she wasn’t wanted."
The editor later revealed that the Prince of Wales gave the Duke of Sussex the silent treatment around the time of Elizabeth's funeral.
“William ignored him,” a source told the author. “He clearly didn’t want to see his brother.”
“Rumors of the Queen’s passing were rife at this point, Harry had no way of knowing whether it was true. His father doesn’t carry a cell phone and his brother wasn’t acknowledging his existence,” Scobie noted.
The writer disclosed that insiders believe Harry was left in the dark about his grandmother's well-being.
“Palace ‘sources’ later briefed certain papers that Charles had personally shared the news with his younger son, but this was just a move to save face,” Scobie penned.
"Harry was crushed," a friend told the royalist. "His relationship with the queen was everything to him. She would have wanted him to know before it went out to the world."
Expert Katie Nicholl told an outlet that those closest to William and Harry hope to see them make amends.
"Everyone wants to see a repair in the rift because it doesn't do anyone any good to have this rift in the heart of the House of Windsor," Nicholl stated. "I spoke to aides, past and present — including one senior aid who worked with the brothers for a good 10 years, who knows them both and still speaks to them both."
"And he was surprisingly confident that there could be a rapprochement," she added.
