It’s telling Harry didn’t see Prince William on last UK visit – it shows the relationship is troubled, royal expert says
PRINCE Harry avoiding Prince William on his last visit to the UK is a sign of how troubled their relationship is, a royal expert has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, is set to head to the UK next week for an Invictus Games event with Meghan expected to stay in California.
But it remains to be seen whether the Duke will visit his brother after their relationship has become increasingly strained over the years.
Harry stepped down from the Royal Family four years ago and has since made a number of shocking allegations about William.
Their relationship has only worsened after the Sussexes made a number of accusations against the Royal Family in their Netflix docuseries.
Harry and William were last seen together at King Charles’s Coronation last May but they were sat separately and the Duke made a quick escape.
RELUCTANT BROTHERS
Now, ITV News‘ royal correspondent Chris Ship has told The Sun’s new royals show that the brothers’ reluctance to see each other speaks volumes.
Chris told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive Show: “While he’s here is he going to see his father? Is he meeting his brother?
“That’s what everyone is going to be asking.
“At the time of Charles’ cancer announcement, Harry was here for 24 to 36 hours and he did not see his brother.
“You would have thought that two brothers whatever their differences would have been able to get together and say: ‘Dad’s just told the world he has cancer, let’s have a chat about how we can put our own differences to the side.’
“But they didn’t and now with Kate’s diagnosis, is this a moment for Harry and William to be big boys and put all this stuff to one side and get together for everyone’s sake and have a chat.”
Chris added: “The relationship is very difficult within the family.
“William and Harry used to be good mates then everything fell apart.”
Harry will attend the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday May 8, as part of the tour.
It comes after claims Meghan would not make the transatlantic trip with Harry over fears she would be greeted with a “hostile reception”.
Richard Fitzwilliams previously told The Sun that “the Sussexes aren’t trusted by the Royal Family” and he isn’t surprised Meghan won’t arrive in London with Harry.
Is this a moment for Harry and William to be big boys and put all this stuff to one side for everyone’s sake
Chris Ship
He said: “I never thought that Meghan would come over because of the hostility towards her, but I mean no one has to emphasise that it’s hostile.
“And anyway, her attendance at the reception would overshadow the message of the service, and you wouldn’t want that, as far as Harry is concerned.
“One must hope everyone’s interested in the rift being resolved so hopefully this might happen.
“But it will happen because of private contact, contact that we wouldn’t know existed.
“I mean, that has a far, far better chance, anyway. But the problem essentially, is one of trust.
“The Sussexes aren’t trusted by the royal family. That Oprah interview, which did so much harm went, actually went out at the time when the Duke of Edinburgh was ill in hospital.”
Prince Harry's last visit to the UK
PRINCE Harry last stepped foot off a plane into Britain In February when King Charles announced his cancer diagnosis.
The royal however, was only with his dad for 30 minutes after flying 5,000 miles.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, landed at Heathrow following a ten-and-a-half hour overnight flight.
He was whisked to London while Charles, 75, delayed a helicopter flight to Sandringham so they could hold their first meeting in 16 months.
In an unusual move, Charles kept his helicopter waiting so he could personally welcome Harry at his London home Clarence House.
Sources said the King made a “significant” decision to delay his travel plans after his son’s gesture to fly across the Atlantic at short notice.
Their meeting was thought to have lasted little more than half an hour, with Harry and his entourage leaving Clarence House around 45 minutes after arriving.
It was the first time he and Charles had met in private since Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, though they have been in telephone contact.
Meghan previously attended the Invictus Games with Harry in Toronto, Sydney, The Hague and Dusseldorf.
But she has not stepped-foot in the UK since attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.
After Harry’s most likely short trip to Britain, he and Meghan will head to Nigeria for the next stop on his Invictus Games tour.
In Harry and Meghan’s first trip to the country as a couple, they will meet service members and their families, and participate in traditional cultural activities, according to Nigerian media.
In official files, which previously documented his primary home as the UK, Harry has since listed his £11m California mansion as his main residence.
It has been revealed that the exiled Prince changed his official status to American resident on the same day wife Meghan, 42, and himself were evicted from Frogmore Cottage.
King Charles ordered him to return the keys to what was his UK base when making the rare transatlantic trip over.
The Sun understands Prince William supported the monarch’s decision to strip his younger brother of estate access.
A timeline of Prince Harry and William's 'feud': Brothers 'at war'
In 2018, the Sun told how “simmering tension” began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan’s engagement.
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
It came after Prince Philip called Meghan the “D.O.W” after the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.
And he warned the late Queen to be “cautious” of Harry’s then bride-to-be, a royal author claims.
Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was “uncanny…how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor“.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Last year Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan.
In his book Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.