They once appeared to be tight brothers who would let nothing or nobody ever come between them.

But relations between Prince William and Prince Harry are still at rock bottom, with no communication between the warring brothers in the midst of their bitter feud. However, it seems that attempts were made to nip the feud in the bud when Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s struggle with royal life first became apparent. However, according to a book, a heart-to-heart meeting between the two brothers didn’t end up taking place after Harry rejected it with a blunt two-word reply.

The Duke of Sussex first hinted at a feud in 2019 during an interview he gave during his and Meghan’s tour of South Africa – just months before they sensationally quit as working royals. He famously told ITV’s Tom Bradby that he and Meghan were “struggling” with some of the pressures of life as working royals, with a bombshell moment revealing that their sibling bond was experiencing “good days” and “bad days”.

Harry and Meghan in South Africa in 2019 (
Image:
Getty Images)
According to the book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, after the interview was broadcast, William, the now Prince of Wales, tried to reach out to his younger brother. The author claims Harry was initially open to the offer – but turned him down after growing concerns that news of their rendezvous would be leaked by royal staff.

Author Valentine Low writes: “The day after the documentary aired, William WhatsApped his brother to ask if he could come and see him. Initially, Harry was in favour. Then he spoke to his brother again and asked him whom he would tell. William explained that he’d have to clear his schedule, which would mean telling his private secretary. At that point, Harry told him: Don’t come. He was so concerned that William’s team would leak the visit to the press that he would rather not see his brother than risk it getting into the papers.”

The book adds that the failure to meet face-to-face came as ‘heartbreaking’ news to people close to both brothers and highlighted how some members of The Firm had come to find it difficult to communicate directly amid high levels of scrutiny. Relations between William and Harry have long been strained despite their closeness in their younger years. The fallout is said to have begun before Harry’s wedding to former Suits star, Meghan, with the duke accusing William of being snobbish to his bride.

But it worsened following the death of the late Queen after the accusations Harry publicly levelled at his brother in double tell-alls: his memoir, Spare, and his Netflix documentary. In his autobiography, released just months after Elizabeth II died, Harry accused William of physically attacking him and pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan.

Harry and Meghan, in their Netflix series two months after the Queen’s death, claimed Kensington Palace lied to protect William when it issued a statement denying a story he had bullied Harry out of the royal family. Harry also wrote of how Charles pleaded with his two sons during a tense meeting at Windsor just after the funeral of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, saying: “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery”.