How Harry’s battle with William echoes that of the bitter feud between our last two kings – Edward VIII and George VI
THIS new battle of the two royal brothers echoes that of the bitter feud between our last two kings.
Edward VIII — later Duke of Windsor — and George VI were locked in a rift over money and betrayal after the 1936 abdication, which left the older brother in exile.
Now Princes William and Harry’s spectacular fallout will, in my view, never be healed, leaving him effectively exiled, too.
Their broken relationship has become too volatile, too bitter and too personal — and worst of all, too public — to come back from.
One of them would need to back down, yet neither seems willing.
The physical spat that ended in a brotherly scuffle, a necklace being broken and Harry apparently knocked to the floor is one thing, it happens between alpha males — even the best of pals sometimes.
The only bruising it seems was to “Harold’s” ego.
But the sniping about each other’s wives and Harry’s harping on about the treatment of his, Meghan, and his decision to go public means any chance of a royal reconciliation has gone.
Harry’s decision to trash his brother in public will backfire.
He has given it out — but can he take it?
With his past of drug taking, recklessness and wild behaviour, I am sure if the worm turned he could be the one who ends up humiliated.
Blaming his brother William and wife Kate for HIS decision to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party is just pathetic. Even if they did “howl” with laughter at the suggestion — did they dress him in it too?
He had the life of Riley
Harry seems incapable of taking ownership for anything.
He talks of wanting his father and brother back. Who is he kidding?
Why would they want to reconcile with a blabbermouth going out of his way to trash their reputation for a fistful of dollars in his grudge-bearing book Spare.
“H” as his actress wife “M” calls him, has done his very best to bring down the institution and the family that made him so entitled in the first place, attacking it when it is at its most vulnerable, in the aftermath of the Queen death.
What is his gripe?
His father gave him millions of pounds. He went to the best schools in the land, lived in palaces and frankly had the life of Riley.
Charles paid a fortune for Harry and Meghan’s wedding and continued to fund his son after he quit as a working royal.
He warmly embraced Meghan into the family, even walking her down the aisle at her wedding when her father backed out due to ill health — only to have it thrown in his face.
As Harry admits in his book, Charles was mightily fed up with all the carping. “Please boy, don’t make my final years a misery,” he reportedly told him.
Well that fell on deaf ears.
I wouldn’t be surprised if King Charles now strips his second son of his royal dukedom — and thus Meghan, who gets the title due to her marriage.
If he doesn’t, as I know he is reluctant to, when William is king I am sure he will.
The rift between the late George VI and the Duke of Windsor and his American wife never healed.
George VI was convinced his older brother, preying on his good nature, fleeced him of multi-millions.
The King had to pay a small fortune for Sandringham and Balmoral to buy out Edward VIII’s life interest in those houses, leaving the royal coffers relatively empty for years.
Edward attended his brother’s funeral in 1952 and died a broken man 20 years later in 1972.
He is buried in the Royal burial grounds at Frogmore — not far from Harry and Meghan’s old cottage in Windsor.
The Queen Mother carried on the grudge with the Windsors, who ended life as rather sad exiles, with the old king pathetically clinging on to the trappings of his royal roots, living in a gilded cage of a sprawling villa in Paris.
Like any father, Charles feared the worst when his two sons clashed, especially when the women they both loved now seemed embroiled in the ill feeling too.
He knew the boys were both strong-willed, stubborn even; conflict would be very difficult to manage and could have a detrimental impact on the monarchy itself.
Sometimes the level of belligerence between his sons, and indeed towards him, had shocked Charles.
For the sake of the monarchy all concerned need to draw a line under this feud.
But not a line of forgiveness. It must mean “H” and “M” are out for good.
No more titles,
No more olive branches.
No more comebacks.
They had their time as privileged royals, they had their free homes, and round the clock protection, and turned their back on that life.
It was their choice.
Now the King should get tough.
The dukedom of Sussex that Harry apparently offered to give back, should be returned to the Crown at the very least.
- Robert Jobson is the author of William At 40: The Making Of A Modern Monarch.