Prince Harry was not feeling the monarchy long before he first laid eyes on Meghan Markle during the summer of 2016.
"I spent many years kicking my heels and I didn't want to grow up," the fifth in line to the throne told an outlet in 2017. "I felt I wanted out, but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself."
"I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too," he added.
This follows long-running royal reports that suggest Harry and Prince William's once beloved dynamic with one another started to fade in the mid-to-late 2000s. Both princes were serving in the British Armed Forces at the time, with the future king allegedly finding Harry's attitude and demeanor then to be "tiresome," according to a former palace aide. The duo gave a memorable interview in 2009 in which royal analysts claimed the "banter" in the clip was actually "frustration" between the pair.
William is also said to have found the early-to-mid 2000s, when Harry was frequently in trouble with substance abuse and "acting out," to be "embarrassing" both to their grandmother's Crown and their mother's memory.
This also follows reports from the late summer of 2023 in which the Prince of Wales was alleged to have "erased" his brother from his mind.
"Because of these entrenched positions and the fact Harry has visited the U.K. without either of them, as far as we know, lifting a finger to phone or text or meet up, I really can’t see them mending the rift any time soon," royal reporter Jennie Bond told an outlet at the time.
"William is hurt so deeply that I think he probably just blanks Harry out of his mind most of the time. He has moved on with his life, and I guess so has Harry," she continued.
As The Royal Observer previously reported, the rift that has developed between the once close royal siblings has been there for a few years now but went "nuclear" once Harry attacked William in his memoir, Spare.
In the autobiography, the Duke of Sussex accused the then-Duke of Cambridge of throwing him to the floor during a 2019 argument that revolved around Meghan Markle. He also spilled how it was William and Kate Middleton who convinced him to wear a Nazi uniform to a party in 2005 — both allegedly laughed at the then 20-year-old prince once the image of him donning the outfit was splashed across newspaper front pages.
The Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex have reportedly not spoken to one another since Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022.
Daily Express reported on Harry's interview.
