Sibling rivalry. Prince Harry and Prince William are still not on speaking terms amid their ongoing feud, according to royal expert Nick Bullen.
“My understanding is there have been no discussions between Harry and William. That is absolutely radio silence,” the True Royalty TV editor-in-chief exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, April 20. “It’s a very big void.”
The brothers have been at odds since Harry, 38, and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from their roles as senior royals in 2020 and subsequently relocated to the United States. In the December 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duke of Sussex recalled a tense meeting with his brother, his father, King Charles III, and his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, that occurred shortly before he and Meghan, 41, announced their plans to scale back their duties.
“It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in,” he said. The BetterUp CIO added that the tension between him and William, 40, had been the hardest part of his estrangement from The Firm.
“I mean, the saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother, so that he’s now on the institution’s side,” he explained. “Part of that, I get. I understand, right? That’s his inheritance. So, to some extent it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution.”
Harry went on to make allegations about the Duke of Cambridge in his January tell-all memoir, Spare, including a claim that William had physically fought him in 2019 after allegedly calling Meghan “difficult” and “rude.”
The Archewell cofounder wrote of the alleged incident: “He grabbed my by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dogs’ bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me.”
Although the princes have shown no signs of mending fences, Bullen told Us that Harry and his father, 74, have spoken amid the drama.
“The king is doing all he can to try and keep lines of communication open,” the television producer said. “But I think it’s very much between the king and Harry, and that’s about it at the moment.”
Bullen added that the former military pilot’s “extended family” — including his sister-in-law Princess Kate and his stepmother, Queen Camilla — don’t “really feel the need to follow up with” him following his bombshell memoir.
Despite his estrangement from The Institution, Harry is slated to attend Charles’ coronation on May 6 while the Duchess of Sussex will remain at home with their two children: Prince Archie, 3, and Princess Lillibet, 22 months. The occasion will mark his first time reuniting with the royal family since the queen’s funeral in September 2022.
“I think he’ll be nervous about how the family [will] react to him, and I think it’s pretty clear that he’s gonna minimize the amount of time that he’s in London,” Bullen said of Harry’s upcoming trip across the pond. “He’s already said that he wants to be back for Archie’s birthday that afternoon, that evening.”
The coronation ceremony — during which Camilla, 75, will also be officially crowned — takes place on the same day as Archie’s 4th birthday.
“It will be very much of a fly-in visit,” Bullen said of Harry’s attendance at the event. “Harry isn’t part of the procession or the balcony appearance.”
The royal expert added that he thinks the Suits alum’s decision to skip the coronation is smart.
“I think Meghan not attending is a huge relief for everybody involved,” he said. “She knows that if she turns up, the story will become about her. All cameras will be trained on her to see, you know, ‘How does she look? Is there a nervousness in her eyes?’ All those things.”
Bullen continued: “We’ll get some of that with Harry, but it would be even bigger if Meghan had been there. So, if you are being positive about Meghan, she’s done the right thing by not making herself the story.”
