Prince William and Harry’s struggling relationship hasn’t exactly been kept in the shadows, thanks to the Duke’s memoir Spare, but what has William said about Harry over the years?
January 2023 was when Harry lit a match on one of his remaining bridges with the royals following the release of his memoir Spare. In the bombshell memoir, which he used a ghostwriter, he made strong allegations of how Prince William and himself were involved in a physical altercation, and how The Firm began to break down behind closed doors when it came to his relationship with his family. Prince Harry claimed his family were not supportive of his relationship with Meghan Markle at the time. He had to do what he believed was right deep in his heart, including speaking to Oprah Winfrey on prime-time TV and making comments that experts said were the Sussexes’ airing the royal family’s dirty laundry since they stepped down from representing the monarchy. Aside from what Prince Harry and Meghan has said, what about William? It’s easy to speak from one person’s perspective, but as the palace usually keep quiet in response to bombshell allegations, let’s see what the Prince of Wales has actually said about his brother over the years.
Everything Prince William has said about his brother Harry
William supports Harry with rare statement
Cast your minds back to 2016, when William was around 36 and his younger brother Prince Harry 33.
In November of that year, the Duke of Sussex released a statement, concerned over the negative media and trolls reaction to his girlfriend Meghan, who had publicly been identified.
In an emotional response, Harry said he was ‘worried’ about her safety and ‘deeply disappointed he was not able to protect her’ from the abuse.
Although it was only this month the royal family removed the iconic statement from their website, eight years after the passionate prince released it. At the time, it was unheard of a royal to act in this way.
But William supported his brother, and released his own statement via Kensington Palace.
He said: “The Duke of Cambridge absolutely understands the situation concerning privacy and supports the need for Prince Harry to support those closest to him.”
The brothers ‘grieved separately’
Both of the siblings have been praised for speaking out about mental health and the pain they went through when their mother Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
The duo have never shied away from an opportunity to raise awareness for important charities and causes by opening up on the trauma of losing a parent while still so young.
In 2017, William revealed a deeply personal memory of the event and aftermath. During a BBC documentary about his mother, he admitted they would have to put on a ‘game face’ to not ‘break down’ over their loss.
The dad-of-three admitted, as well as Harry, they didn’t want to walk behind their mother’s coffin during the funeral procession, but felt a sense of ‘duty and responsibility’ to do so regardless.
“All I cared about was, I’d lost my mother, and I didn’t want to be where I was,” William said.
“When we [would] go out and do [public events], in order not to completely and utterly break down, we [would] have to put on a bit of a game face. And you have to be quite strong about it because otherwise, you’re a walking mess.”
“The family came together and Harry and I tried to talk as best we could about it,” William said in the documentary. “But being so small at that age, it was very difficult to communicate or understand your feelings. It’s…it’s very complicated.”
Prince William and Harry put their heads together before they were at loggerheads
That same year, the brothers came together, along with the now Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, to speak about mental health.
In the conversation, the older sibling admitted they rarely speak about the death of their mother, despite the shared tragedy.
“Both of us have always been open with the other, but we’ve never really talked about it, losing a mom at such a young age. When you speak to other people and their families and their kids, and you don’t want them to go through the same thing, with a little bit of experience, you want to help them as much as you can.”
He added: “We were uniquely bonded because of what we’ve been through, but you know, even Harry and I, over the years, have not talked enough about our mother.”
“Never enough,” Harry admitted.
“You said to me, ‘You’ve got to sit down and think about those memories’, for me, it was like ‘I don’t want to think about it,'” he added.
William said he was ‘delighted’ over Prince Harry proposing to Meghan Markle
By the end of November, Harry and Meghan had announced they were engaged.
Prince William released a statement about the happy moment, saying he was ‘delighted’ for the couple.
He said: “We’re very excited, delighted for them both. We’re wishing them all the happiness in this very exciting time.
“Personally, I hope it means he stays out of my fridge and will stop scrounging my food, which he’s done for the last few years!”
As 2018 rolled around, and everyone assumed the older brother would act as the Duke’s best man, he admitted he hadn’t been asked yet.
“He hasn’t asked me yet — it could be a sensitive issue,” Wills joked.
Joking aside, he did get round to it, with the 39-year-old quipping he got down on a knee to ask William to take on the role.
William said: “It feels great, a real delight…revenge is sweet,” referring to how Harry acted as his best man when he married Kate Middleton in 2011.
Royal cracks begin to show
It wasn’t until the following year when rumors of a rift within The Firm began to emerge.
It stemmed from when Harry and Meghan were in Africa on a royal tour, the same time when cracks began to show after she confessed to how she was doing.
But, Harry made his own admission, when asked about how the relationship with his brother was going, he indicated that they were having a tough time.
In the ITV documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, the prince said: “Part of this role, part of this job, this family, being under the pressure which it’s under, inevitably stuff happens. But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers.
“We’re certainly on different paths at the moment. I’ll always be there for him and as I know, he’ll always be there for me. We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy but I love him dearly.”
It was the ‘different paths’ and ‘stuff happens’ comments that raised eyebrows, whereas William chose to stay quiet.
‘Offensive and harmful’
In 2020, after Harry and Meghan revealed they had made the decision to step down as senior members of the royal family, more speculation engulfed The Firm.
They claimed William had been ‘bullying’ the Sussexes, and in turn, driven them away from not only the palace, but the country, as they set up shop in Canada before finding their forever home in Montecito, Los Angeles.
But the two brothers released a joint statement denying these claims.
They said: “Despite clear denials, a false story ran in a UK newspaper today speculating about the relationship between The Duke of Sussex and The Duke of Cambridge. For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful.”
But it was the same year, when William told a friend, Tom Bradby, over how he was ‘sad’ they have become separated over the years.
“I’ve put my arm around my brother all our lives and I can’t do that any more; we’re separate entities,” he admitted.
“I’m sad about that. All we can do, and all I can do, is try and support [he and Meghan] and hope that the time comes when we’re all singing from the same page. I want everyone to play on the [same] team.”
What has Prince William said about Harry and Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview?
2021 was a year for royal drama, for sure.
Prince Harry and Meghan joined celebrity pal Oprah Winfrey for a bombshell interview about their time in The Firm, and why they left.
In the tell-all chat, the Duchess alleged royal family members made a comment about Archie’s skin color before he was born, although the Duke refused to name who it was. Oprah, shocked, couldn’t believe it.
Later on, the show confirmed it was neither the late Prince Philip or Queen Elizabeth II at the time.
The following morning, when being hounded by reporters, where he was asked if he had spoken to Harry.
“No I haven’t yet, but I will do”, he replied. Then a photographer asked if the royal family were racist, and William simply said: “We are very much not a racist family,” in response to the Oprah show.
The next statement to come out, was from the Queen and Buckingham Palace.
“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” it read.
“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
Last year, it was claimed it was Kate Middleton who had asked for the statement to include ‘recollections may vary’.
Special moment with mom Diana
In 2021, William remembered a special moment with their mom Diana he and Harry had from when they went to school.
For an episode of Apple’s Time to Walk, he said: “When I was younger, Harry and I, we were at boarding school. And my mother used to play all sorts of songs to kind of while away the anxiety of going back to school.
“And one of the songs I massively remember and has stuck with me all this time, and I still, to this day, still quite enjoy secretly, is Tina Turner’s “The Best” because sitting in the backseat, singing away, it felt like a real family moment. And my mother, she’d be driving along, singing at the top of her voice. And we’d even get the policeman in the car, he’d be occasionally singing along, as well. You’d be singing and listening to the music right the way out into the gates of school, when they dropped you off.”
After the birth of Harry’s children
When William was asked about Prince Archie, Harry and Meghan’s first child, he made a joke about his younger brother no longer getting any sleep.
He said: “We’re obviously thrilled, absolutely thrilled. And looking forward to seeing them in the next few days when things have quietened down and I’m very pleased and glad to welcome my brother to the sleep-deprivation society that is parenting, so that will be fun!”
When he was asked if he had any advice as his brother begins his journey into parenthood, he said: “Oh, there’s plenty of advice, plenty of advice.
“But, no, I wish him all the best and I hope, in the next few days, they can settle down and enjoy having a newborn in their family and all the sorts of joys that come with that.”
When little Lilibet came around, the Cambridges – at the time – also released a statement.
While the palace added: “The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been informed and are delighted with the news of the birth of a daughter for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”
Has William said anything about the Netflix documentary or Prince Harry’s memoir Spare?
While Harry’s book became a bestseller and beat other biographies that topped the list in recent years, such as Barack Obama, his family have kept their lips sealed.
Harry & Meghan, a six-part docuseries, released in December 2022. It again, had the couple speak about their time in The Firm and life after moving to sunny California.
However, William, nor other royals responded to any allegations in the episodes.
The same can be said for Spare, which came out in January 2023, following the death of the Queen. It seems the palace have decided to just carry on when it comes to any new claims from the Sussex camp.
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