Harry and Prince William ‘reconnected’
The Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex ‘reconnected’ over the holidays and are now ‘speaking regularly’ by video call, a royal expert has claimed.
Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, are currently residing in their $14million mansion in Santa Barbara with one-year-old son Archie, having stepped back from duty in March last year.
Meanwhile Prince William, 38, and Kate Middleton, 38, have been leading the royal family’s response to the Covid-19 crisis in the UK, spending much of the pandemic at their Norfolk home of Anmer Hall along with their children Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight the families enjoyed ‘phone and video calls’ over Christmas and New Year where they presented gifts to each other, saying: ‘Fast forward to today, the relationship is much better than it was. For a start, they are on talking terms, and not only on talking terms, they do speak relatively regularly. They were very much in touch over the holidays.’
Yet she suggested the relationship between the brothers might never recover to the close bond they enjoyed in the past.
Katie said there was ‘an ocean’ between the two families, adding the brothers are ‘on different paths.’
She added that Meghan and Harry ‘are trying’ for another child because they ‘would love to have a sibling for Archie.’
Her comments come after a royal biographer claimed the ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty.
Speaking to Elle.com, royal biographer Robert Lacey said he thought ‘there will be some sort of reconciliation’ between the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Cambridge this year.
But he said the brother’s relationship is ‘never going to be the same’, explaining: ‘I expect that is the long-term solution here: Duty in the form of William and Kate will take over the situation, and Harry and his love will enjoy the freedom of America and, I hope, obviously there will be some sort of reconciliation.’
Robert said the brother’s long ‘history and texture’ would always be there, suggesting they both ‘took something different’ from their parent’s marriage breakdown.
The royal expert explained the Duke of Cambridge had found ‘strength’ in his duty, saying: ‘At least he had this duty, this responsibility to be King, the future monarch, and he had to live up to that.’
Katie’s comments come weeks after a royal expert claimed the ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty +5
Katie’s comments come weeks after a royal expert claimed the ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty
Meanwhile he said Prince Harry ‘took a different lesson’ from the relationship, adding that the Duke was going to ‘go for love…unapologetically.’
He added: ‘His parents were locked into an arranged, loveless marriage, and he’s not going to make that mistake.’
It is believed the trigger that caused the rift to develop between William and Harry was when the Duke of Cambridge advised his younger sibling to ‘take things slow’ when he first began dating Meghan Markle in 2017.
Relations became so sour that they reportedly didn’t talk for weeks after Harry’s wedding, where William was best man. Then Megxit, and the way it was handled, left William and Charles devastated.
In a documentary in 2019 – Harry & Meghan: An African Journey – the Duke of Sussex, admitted he and William are ‘certainly on different paths at the moment’.
He told ITV’s Tom Bradby: ‘Inevitably stuff happens. But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers.’
There are hopes the unveiling of the new Princess Diana statue at Kensington Palace this summer ‘will help to heal old wounds’ for the brothers.
A statement on behalf of the Duke of Sussex and Duke of Cambridge issued by Kensington Palace in August read: ‘The statue that Prince William and Prince Harry have commissioned to commemorate their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, will be installed next year on what would have been her 60th birthday.’
The statue was commissioned to mark the twentieth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death and recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world.
Robert’s comments about the brother’s relationship comes days after royal biographer Angela Levin claimed Prince Harry has ‘discarded life as an action man to become an airy-fairy do-gooder’ with a ‘woke West Coast life’.
Royal expert Angela, who wrote Harry: Conversations with the Prince in 2018, has claimed that the Duke has become a ‘shadow of his former self’ since moving to California.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, she said while Prince Harry ‘balked at being “the spare” to Prince William, he seems to accept being second to Meghan’.
The biographer said Prince Harry’s recent appearances were ‘out of character’ from the royal she once knew, who would instantly identify with everyone he spoke to.
