The “fractures” between Prince William and Prince Harry “split wide open” after Harry exposed his problems with the family and The Firm in 2021, according to royal author Omid Scobie.
Once Harry, 39, “went public with his grievances against the family and the institution” in his and wife Meghan Markle’s 2021 CBS tell-all, the rift between him and William, 41, expanded, Scobie wrote in his upcoming Endgame book. Harry and Meghan’s 2022 Netflix documentary and the prince’s 2023 memoir, Spare, just added fuel to the fire, per the royal journalist.
Scobie claimed in his book that William “believes Harry and Meghan blindsided the family” with their public comments about the institution. He further alleged that William detailed his brother and sister-in-law’s “‘oh so California’ self-importance” to various “friends and aides” over the past two years.
Scobie further alleged in his tell-all that a source told him that William is “convinced” that Harry has been “brainwashed” by an “‘army of therapists’” and therefore William says he “no longer even recognizes” his younger sibling.
Harry, meanwhile, raised eyebrows in 2020 when he and Meghan, 42, announced they were stepping back from their senior royal duties. The couple, who share children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, later relocated to the United States and began sharing their version of what happened behind Buckingham Palace doors before their departure.
As Harry started to tell stories about his life as a prince, especially in his memoir, his relationship with William and their father, King Charles III, became even more strained. Harry confessed in his book that he felt like he was “the shadow, the support, the Plan B” to William who is next in line for the British throne.
“I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part,” Harry wrote of is place in the family. “Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced after.”
Scobie, meanwhile, revealed in his book that he saw the brothers’ friction firsthand in 2019 after covering the royal family for years.
The author explained that he felt “growing strains” on his “working relationship with Kensington Palace” as 2020 approached. After covering Harry and Meghan’s October 2019 southern Africa trip, Scobie alleged that one of William’s aides told him that he “felt ‘uncomfortable’” with his “relationship with the Sussex team.”
Scobie claimed in Endgame that a Kensington Palace aide “privately” informed him that while he didn’t “need to pick a side” he should “accept that there are sides in this.”
While William and Harry continue to be at odds, William’s relationship with his father, 75, has appeared to get stronger in the wake of the drama.
“They’ve had to put up this united front against Harry and Meghan,” royal expert Christopher Andersen exclusively told Us Weekly in July. “They’ve been insulted by members of their own family. It’s been quite the ordeal for them, and I think that they kind of circled the wagon, so to speak. And they’ve come out of that with a stronger bond.”
Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival comes out on Tuesday, November 28.
