As someone who has been covering the British royal family for over a decade, it’s hard not to notice the sad shift in the relationship between the Princess of Wales and Prince Harry. From the outside, it seemed like a warm, brotherly-sisterly bond, full of laughter and shared smiles. Along with Prince William, the two were a close-knit royal trio, but now, more than just thousands of miles separate them.
In fact, Russell Myers claims in his book William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story that Catherine was less interested than William in having Harry remain a working member of the royal family. The Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan Markle, ultimately stepped back from their royal roles in 2020.
“As an ‘outsider’, Catherine had witnessed the deterioration of William and Harry’s relationship. She had seen Harry and Meghan become ever more bitter at having to follow the rules of a hierarchical and hereditary monarchy, until they felt as if they could follow them no longer,” Russell writes.
“Sources suggest Catherine had less interest than her husband in trying to persuade Harry to stay in his current role. She believed William and Harry’s fundamental differences as the ‘heir and the spare’ had created the inevitability of Harry wanting more from his role than being a bit-part player.”
‘I liked making Kate laugh’
Though it’s not just William’s relationship with Harry that has deteriorated, Catherine’s has too. Gone are the days when Harry would accompany his brother and sister-in-law on engagements, smiling alongside them and making Catherine laugh, which the Duke admittedly enjoyed doing.
“I liked seeing Kate laugh. Better yet, I liked making her laugh. And I was quite good at it,” Harry wrote in his memoir Spare. “My transparently silly side connected with her heavily disguised silly side. Whenever I worried that Kate was going to be the one to take Willy from me, I consoled myself with thoughts of all our future laughing fits together, and I told myself how great everything would be when I had a serious girlfriend who could laugh along with us.”
In his book, Harry also recalled he and Catherine laughing at William’s expense ahead of a costume party in 2005. “I liked his new girlfriend,” the Duke penned. “She was carefree, sweet, kind. She’d done a gap year in Florence, knew about photography, art. And clothes. She loved clothes. Her name was Kate.” The Duke of Sussex remembered he and Catherine having “a great time pointing” their fingers at William as he tried on his costume and “rolling around on the floor”.
Harry and Catherine were seen together well before she ever joined the royal family, attending events such as the wedding of the Princes’ stepsister Laura Parker Bowles, polo matches, the Order of the Garter Service and more.
© Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesBy the time William and Catherine got engaged in 2010, Harry had already known his future sister-in-law for quite some time. Catherine officially became part of the royal family on April 29, 2011. “I recall Kate walking down the aisle, looking incredible, and I recall Willy walking her back up the aisle, and as they disappeared through the door, into the carriage that would convey them to Buckingham Palace, into the eternal partnership they’d pledged, I recall thinking: Goodbye,” Harry wrote in Spare.
“I loved my new sister-in-law, I felt she was more sister than in-law, the sister I’d never had and always wanted, and I was pleased that she’d forever be standing by Willy’s side. She was a good match for my older brother. They made each other visibly happy, and therefore I was happy too,” he continued. “But in my gut I couldn’t help feeling that this was yet another farewell under this horrid roof. Another sundering. The brother I’d escorted into Westminster Abbey that morning was gone – forever. “
From royal trio to ‘Fab Four’
While Harry felt that his older brother was gone, the Duke was still very much in their lives. Together they were a royal trio, undertaking engagements, during which they often showed off their playful sides. After years as a trio, they became a short-lived foursome, the “Fab Four,” after Harry got engaged to Meghan.
© Alastair Grant – WPA Pool/Getty ImagesOnstage at the first Royal Foundation Forum in February 2018, Harry remarked that “working as family does have its challenges”. “But we are stuck together for the rest of our lives,” he said. Meghan then added: “Togetherness at its finest.”
The final divide
Though the Fab Four’s “togetherness” did not last. Less than a year after the Sussexes’ royal wedding, Meghan and Harry split households from William and Catherine. Despite going their separate ways, Harry and his sister-in-law were all smiles as they arrived at Westminster Abbey for a joint engagement in late April of 2019. But, by the following April, the Sussexes were no longer working members of the royal family and were living in the United States.
© Kirsty O’Connor – WPA Pool/Getty ImagesCatherine and Harry have since publicly reunited for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, as well as after Her Majesty’s death and later King Charles‘ coronation, even though her name has been dragged into drama sparked by comments from the Sussexes, including a racism row.
“Despite everything said in the Oprah interview, Kate still acted as a peacemaker at Prince Philip’s funeral soon afterward, discreetly helping William and Harry fall into step to talk as they walked back to Windsor Castle after the service. Things have sadly deteriorated since then,” HELLO!‘s Royal Editor Emily Nash says, noting that the couple’s Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and Duke’s memoir Spare have “certainly damaged the relationship further – and of course Kate has had her own very serious health challenge to overcome”.
“Those who know her well say she avoids drama,” Emily adds. “Her own husband and family are her focus and priority now.”
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