Inside Prince William and Prince Harry’s Ups and Downs Over the Years

Prince William and Prince Harry may be royalty, but their sibling bond is like that of any set of brothers. “Their relationship is incredibly intimate,” Princess Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton revealed in the November 2019 edition of Royals Monthly. “Nobody apart from each other knows exactly — not even their father — what’s gone on in their heads and their hearts for the last 20-odd years. They both experienced the loss of their mother. The only people that they could trust to talk about it in a candid way was each of them.” William and Harry were 15 and 12 years old, respectively, when Diana died in a car accident in 1997. As time went on, however, the brothers began to distance themselves from each other. News broke in January 2020 that Harry and Meghan were stepping back from their senior royal duties, a decision that was made permanent in February 2021. The couple opened up about their choice for the first time in March 2021 during a tell-all interview on CBS. “I was trapped but I didn't know I was trapped,” Harry said. “Trapped within the system like the rest of the family. My father [King Charles III] and my brother are trapped. They don't get to leave and I have huge compassion for that.” Scroll through for a timeline of their relationship:

According to Robert Lacey’s Battle of Brothers book, which was released in October 2020, Harry was aware of William’s future as king at a young age.

“Ken Wharfe, bodyguard to Diana and the two boys in the late 1980s, recalls a telling incident when the family were traveling from London to Highgrove for the weekend. According to Wharfe, Harry and his brother got embroiled in an argument in the back seat of the car, with their nanny vainly seeking to referee the dispute,” Lacey wrote. “‘You’ll be king one day,’ said the four-year-old Harry. ‘I won’t. So, I can do what I want.’ ‘Where the hell did he get that from?’ asked Diana.”

William and Harry will always be bonded by the loss of their mother.

“William and I can separate life into two parts. There are the years that we were blessed beside us with the physical presence of both our mother and father. And then there are the 10 years since our mother’s death,” Harry said during a speech on the 10-year anniversary of Diana’s passing. “She was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. Behind the media glare, to us, two children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world.”

Harry stood by his brother’s side at his wedding to Kate in April 2011. After nearly stealing the show by whispering, “Wait till you see her,” to his brother before Kate walked down the aisle, Harry reportedly gushed about the couple during his speech, calling William “the perfect brother” and revealing he loved the duchess “like a sister.”

According to several reports, Harry and William’s rift began when the elder prince expressed concern about how quickly his brother was moving with Meghan, who he started dating in 2016. Lacey claimed in Battle of Brothers that William enlisted Diana’s brother Charles Spencer to try to talk to Harry too.

“After several more peppery reactions, William turned to his uncle Charles Spencer for help,” the book read. “The result of the Spencer intervention was an even more bitter explosion. Once again Harry refused to slow down. He didn’t blame his uncle. He understood why Diana’s brother should want to help. Yet he was furious with his elder brother for dragging other family members into the row.”

Harry credited William for helping him seek mental health counseling after struggling with Diana’s death in his adult life.

“It’s all about timing. And for me personally, my brother, you know, bless him, he was a huge support to me. He kept saying this is not right, this is not normal, you need to talk to [someone] about stuff, it’s OK,” Harry told The Telegraph in April 2017. “I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well.”

William had nice things to say about Meghan when Harry first proposed to the former actress.

“We are very excited for Harry and Meghan,” the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a statement at the time. “It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.”

William went on to plan his brother’s stag party.

“Harry has several close guy friends, but there’s no way he would ask anyone but William to take on the top job,” the source told Us at the time.

It was clear the brothers were going in different directions after news broke in February 2019 that Harry and Meghan were splitting their royal charity from Kate and William.

The palace confirmed the news that June.

“The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex has today announced the conclusions of a review into its structure, and how it will best support Their Royal Highnesses with future charitable activity,” the statement to Us Weekly read. “Later this year The Royal Foundation will become the principal charitable and philanthropic vehicle for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will establish their own new charitable foundation with transitional operating support from The Royal Foundation.”

While many reports alleged that Kate and Meghan weren’t on good terms, longtime royal filmmaker Nick Bullen claimed the rift was actually between William and Harry.

“All brothers fall out. All families fall out. Their fallout at the moment is becoming public,” Bullen told Fox News in March 2019.  “I think people don’t want to think about that with these two boys. These are two boys who lost their mother at a really early age, and the fairytale is that they are closer than ever and need each other, and I think that’s probably true. But equally they are two grown men in their 30s, starting their own families, different wives. They are moving to different parts of the country, different duties.”

Harry confirmed that he and William had a falling out during the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, revealing the siblings have “good days” and “bad days.”

“Part of this role and part of this job, this family, being under the pressure that it’s under, inevitably stuff happens,” he said. “But look, we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers. We’re certainly on different paths at the moment but I’ll always be there for him and as I know he’ll always be there for me.”

Harry added: “We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy, but I love him dearly.” 

After Harry and Meghan announced their plans to skip Christmas with Queen Elizabeth II in November 2019, an insider told Us that his rift with William was partly to blame for the decision.

“Harry and Meghan are having a small Christmas with just immediate family instead of spending it at Sandringham. The rift between William and Harry is one of the main reasons behind their decision,” the insider said. “As it’s Archie’s first Christmas, they want it to be super special." 

Harry’s pal and journalist Tom Bradby gave more insight into the brother’s falling out during an appearance on Good Morning Britain in January 2020. 

“There are lots of people, who would love there to be, including I think the brothers themselves, love them to be closer again. And with any luck that will happen,” Bradby said. “But with families, we all know stuff happens, things are said.” 

After host Piers Morgan added that “having a family dispute in public can’t be easy,” Bradby agreed.

“And also a family dispute within a family firm,” he replied. “You are working in a big family firm, everyone has their wishes and desires and ambitions and if they have to be balanced up and it’s very hard.” 

An insider told Us that Harry and Meghan “blindsided” William and Kate when they announced their decision to take a step back from their senior royal roles in January 2020.

“There’s still a rift between the two brothers,” the insider said, noting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex making their announcement the day before Kate’s 38th birthday “rubbed salt into the wounds.” 

“It’s sad because when they were younger, William would be the first person Harry would go to with big news like this,” the source continued. “William is incredibly hurt, but at the same time he has his own family to focus on and is trying to move forward with his life.”

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams added at the time that “the other royals didn’t know” about the “extraordinary” and “irresponsible” statement.

A source told Us in February 2020 that William and Harry have only spoken “a couple of times” about “business matters” since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to Canada. 

“Harry’s more sensitive and emotional than William – he takes everything so personally. He can be rather impulsive at times,” a second source said. “Harry wants the world to know that no one should suffer in silence, which is why he opened up about Princess Diana and going to therapy. He doesn’t let things let things get to him, like Harry does. That’s not to say William has a heart of steel — he’s actually an incredibly loving and kind man, he just has a different way of dealing with emotions and is more level-headed than his brother.” 

The two brothers and their respective wives saw each other at a public event for the first time on March 9, 2020, at the Commonwealth Day Service. While all eyes were on the two couples at the televised event, William and Kate barely acknowledged Harry and Meghan when they said hello before the service started at Westminster Abbey.

After months of barely communicating, royal expert Katie Nicholl revealed in May 2020 that the two brothers were back on speaking terms, in part due to Prince Charles’ coronavirus battle.

“There have been clearly some quite major rifts in that relationship, but things have got better and I know that William and Harry are in touch on the phone,” Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight. “They have done video calls together, they have done a lot of family birthdays and I think with Prince Charles not being well, that really forced the brothers to pick up the phone and get back in touch.”

William subsequently penned a letter on behalf of himself and his younger brother to thank the volunteers of their late mother Princess Diana‘s charity, the Diana Award.

While the brothers were back on speaking terms in 2020, things were “made worse between them” after the release of the book Finding Freedom, a source told Us in August 2020.

“They are working on getting their relationship back on track,” the source said, but “there continue to be issues between the brothers.”

In the book, which Harry and Meghan denied having any involvement with, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand seemingly confirm reports that Harry was “pissed off” when William suggested he was moving too quickly with Meghan.

“Some felt it was an overreaction,” the book reads. “But then, this sums them up as people — William, the calm and rational one, and Harry, who can’t help but take things far too personally.” As a result, their families drifted apart: “Harry spent less time going over to see the children, but the invitations from William and Kate were the first to dry up."

The Duke of Cambridge was also upset when Harry and Meghan went public with their new roles in January 2020, per the book.

A second source told Us at the time that William thinks the Finding Freedom is Meghan and Harry’s “calculated way of controlling the narrative and that they took advantage of their entertainment contacts so they’d be painted in a favorable light.”

During Harry and Meghan’s CBS sit-down in March 2021, he confirmed that the brothers were still on the outs, but he had hope that the princes would repair their relationship. “I love William to bits. We’ve been through hell together and we have a shared experience, but we are on different paths,” he said. “The relationship is space at the moment and time heals all things, hopefully.”

The brothers came face-to-face for the first time in April 2021 after Harry returned to the U.K. for Prince Philip’s funeral. During the first public sighting of William and Harry in more than a year, the siblings kept it professional as they joined their grandfather’s procession. After the services, William, Harry and Kate were spotted talking as they walked back to Windsor Castle from St George’s Chapel.

“I believe there was some sort of connection and conversation or something beforehand — that was not the first time those two brothers had a conversation with one another," body language expert Elaine Swann told Us at the time. “I cannot imagine those two brothers starting in that line and that [funeral] procession — going through what they went through as brothers and being as thick as thieves as they said before — and not speaking to one another until after the service.”

"The showdown between the two siblings was fierce and bitter," author Robert Lacey wrote in the June 2021 edition of his book, Battle of Brothers, about William's reaction to claims that Meghan had bullied staffers. "William was upset that she seemed to be stealing his beloved brother away from him. ... William felt deeply wounded. ‘Hurt’ and ‘betrayed’ were the two feelings that he described to his friend. The elder brother had always felt so protective. He had seen it as his job to look out for Harry – but this was the moment the protection had to stop. At the end of the day the British crown and all it stood for with its ancient traditions, styles and values – the mission of the monarchy – had to matter more to William than his brother did."

Lacey claimed that Harry was "equally furious" that William would believe the accusations against Meghan.

As Harry entered a legal battle with The Firm regarding security funds for his family across the pond, an insider told Us in January 2022 that he still had "his heart set" on spending time with his brother, grandmother and other relatives. "That will only happen if the government takes the appropriate measures to protect his family," the source explained, adding that Harry didn't want to "rob" his kids of having a bond with their cousins George, Charlotte and Louis.

The brothers put on a united front in July at the unveiling of Diana’s statue in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace. "Today, on what would have been our mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength and character – qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better,” William and Harry wrote in a joint statement at the time. "Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy Thank you to Ian Rank-Broadley, Pip Morrison and their teams for their outstanding work, to the friends and donors who helped make this happen, and to all those around the world who keep our mother’s memory alive.”

More than a year after Harry's step back from his senior role, his older brother had still "not been able to come to terms with [it] yet," Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie told Entertainment Tonight.

"They are very different men," Scobie said in August 2021. "And I think that William has certainly become someone who is really living his life for the crown, for the institution. Harry has really sort of gone completely in the opposite direction. They will never see eye to eye, and until both sides can acknowledge that, they will never move forward."

William and Kate planned a visit to the U.S. for the first time, but royal expert Jonathan Sacerdoti predicted that it would be "somewhat unlikely" for them to stay with Harry and Meghan in California during their trip. "It's like so many of these things — it's a sort of lose-lose situation," the British journalist exclusively told Us in November 2021. "If they get invited and they decline, it seems petty and nasty. And if they don't get invited, it seems petty and nasty from the other side. And if they do accept such an invitation and something goes terribly wrong, that seems like a bad idea. I can't quite see how this would work."

The Travalyst founder did not attend the U.K. memorial for his late grandfather nearly one year after Philip's death, but he and Meghan did spend time with the queen in April 2022 on their way to the Invictus Games. Multiple sources confirmed to Us at the time that the Sussexes didn't see William and Kate, who stepped out for the royal family's annual Easter service days after Harry and Meghan's surprise visit. However, one insider noted that the missed connection was "purely coincidental," as William "happened to be skiing when Harry and Meghan were at Windsor Castle."

While honoring the queen's 70 years on the throne during her Platinum Jubilee, Harry and Meghan attended the Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral. Inside the church, the Sussexes did not sit beside William and Kate. "Senior members of the royal family were seated in the front row and non-senior members in the second row," a source explained after the event, noting that the decision was made "to avoid any unwanted attention."

A source exclusively told Us in June 2022 that the brothers "hit rock bottom" in their relationship and had "not been on good terms for two years." William "doesn't know who [Harry] is anymore and the trust between them is strained," the insider claimed, adding that the future king will "be civil to a point, but he's not going to play happy families with them again or pretend that everything's A-OK when it's anything but."

Days after the queen's death, the brothers made a rare public appearance together while greeting mourners outside Windsor Castle with their wives. “William invited Harry and Meghan to join them,” a source exclusively told Us of the reunion. “They were delayed in arriving while they arranged the plans.”

The brothers walked side by side during a procession to Westminster Hall with the queen’s casket. But behind closed doors, a royal expert told Us that their relationship remained “dicey.”

“I think [Charles is] very careful and I think he’s trying to be subdued and trying to be a unifying figure. I think he needs to sell the British people, for example, on a number of things. And one of them is Camilla as queen,” Christopher Andersen told Us. “He’s gotta have all hands on deck, and that means having both William and Harry as partners as well. And I think the relationship with Harry and William is still dicey.”

After Netflix released the first trailer for Harry and Meghan's docuseries, an insider told Us that the project had only caused further tension between the brothers. “Kate and William were left flummoxed when the Netflix trailer aired during their trip to Boston,” the source said, adding that Harry was "adamant" about sharing his story with the public. “It’s put a huge amount of strain on relationships that are already hanging by a thread."

During the second part of Harry & Meghan, Harry opened up about how the rift with his brother widened following his exit from the royal family. In the days before the couple announced their plans to step down from the royal family, Harry met with William, Charles and Elizabeth at Sandringham to discuss the Sussexes' options — and it allegedly didn't go well. “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, adding that he didn’t blame the late monarch for her reaction. “But you have to understand that — from the family’s perspective — especially from hers, there are ways of doing things, and her ultimate sort of mission, goal, slash responsibility is the institution.”

Harry went on to say that the tension with William has been the most upsetting part of the whole situation. “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.”

The BetterUp CIO also claimed that William released a joint statement denying reports that he "bullied" Harry and Meghan out of the institution without asking for Harry's thoughts. “I couldn’t believe it. No one had asked me," Harry said. "No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that.”

The Archewell cofounders went on to allege that William's aide Jason Knauf submitted a witness statement against Meghan during her lawsuit against the Daily Mail — with permission from William's office. Knauf, for his part, denied the claim in a statement shared in the docuseries, while William has not publicly responded to the accusation.

After a "hard" reunion with Charles and William at Philip's funeral, Harry said he doesn't believe he and his relatives will ever fully address their issues. "I’ve had to make peace with the fact that we’re probably never gonna get genuine accountability or a genuine apology," he said. "My wife and I, we’re moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next.”

Following the release of Spare, a source exclusively told Us that William "doesn't even recognize" his brother anymore. "William is absolutely horrified by all of this," the insider revealed. "He wants to believe that there's still hope for peace down the line, but it's hard."

According to the source, William found the "explosive" chapters "rude and insulting" toward him, Kate and Charles. "At this point, he's got no plans to speak to Harry. He's come to terms with the fact [that] he's lost his little brother and quite possibly for life," the insider told Us.

Another insider said that William "wants to move on" from the drama brought about by Spare — but added that the older prince "has made no effort to speak to Harry." A third source added: “William feels that Harry is all smoke and mirrors and is not to be trusted."

Ahead of their expected reunion at Charles’ coronation in May 2023, Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie claimed “there has been minimal contact” between the brothers since “the queen’s funeral.”

Both brothers attended their father's coronation in May, but they sat separately inside of Westminster Abbey. William was joined by his wife in the first row, while Harry sat with his cousins in the third. The duo did not appear to interact at the ceremony, and Harry was not with the rest of the family when they appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

“William wants his relationship with his brother to improve, but they’re not speaking right now,” a source exclusively told Us in October 2023. “So when that will happen is still uncertain.”

British journalist Robert Jobson claimed that William was “surprised” by Harry’s success with the Invictus Games.

“I think there was a degree of jealousy about how well it had gone,” Jobson said in the ABC News special Prince Harry’s Mission: Life, Family and Invictus Games, which aired in February 2024. “I do think that William was surprised how much this had been such a success and how much money was being thrown into it and how many governments were getting involved.”

When Kate announced her cancer diagnosis via a video message, Harry and Meghan reportedly learned of the news on the TV.

“It speaks volumes that Harry and Meghan learned of the diagnosis from the news,” royal historian Richard Fitzwilliams told TIME in March 2024, adding, “The brothers reportedly haven’t been in contact for months and trust has completely broken down.”

Despite initially not being in the loop, Harry and Meghan were among the first to publicly release a statement to support Kate. It was also reported that the couple had “privately” been in touch with William and Kate, per ITV Royal Editor Chris Ship. He wrote via X, “It [is] not clear if that was a phone/video call or some messages of support.”

With Harry removed from the restrictions associated with being royal, a source exclusively revealed in an Us April 2024 cover story that “William is a bit envious of [his brother’s] freedoms.”

Ed Owens, a royal historian and author of After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself?, told Us that there’s little doubt that William “feels envious” of Harry’s accomplishments, specifically with the Invictus Games. The twosome’s relationship remains complicated, but Harry extended an olive branch to his family and invited them to the Invictus Games.

“Harry is very content [and] doesn’t have any of those [old] feelings now,” another insider added. “He feels that his life has purpose and meaning and that he can bring a lot of good to the world.”

Kate and William celebrated Harry’s 40th birthday by sending him well-wishes in a rare Instagram Story and post on X. “Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to the Duke of Sussex,” Kate and William wrote, alongside a snap of Harry.

In a trailer for an upcoming documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness. Prince William made a rare public comment about his brother Prince Harry.

William recalled a memory from childhood, where his mother, the late Princess Diana, took him and his brother on a visit to a UK charity called The Passage. The organization supports unhoused members of the community.

“My mother took me to The Passage; she took Harry and I both there. I must have been 11 at the time, maybe 10,” William said. “I had never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious about what to expect.”

William spoke further about how it was an eye-opening experience for him. “My mother went about her usual, making everyone feel relaxed, having a laugh and joking with everyone. I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘Well, if everyone doesn’t have a home, they’re all going to be really sad.’ But it was incredible how happy an environment it was,” William said. “I remember having some good conversations, playing chess, chatting and that’s when it dawned on me that there were other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.”

A royal source told Us Weekly exclusively that William was “done” with Harry. At the time, Harry had spoken out about his family rift in a bombshell BBC interview, which deepened the drama between him and his brother.

“William doesn’t talk about Harry anymore,” the insider added. “Everyone knows it’s a subject that they shouldn’t bring up, so he hasn’t brought up the interview and won’t.”

An Us Weekly cover story revealed that William and Harry are “living very separate lives” as their family feud continues.

“The more time passes, the more William and Harry seem to be settling into their respective lives,” royal commentator Amanda Matta told Us, sharing that there is “no open conflict, just radio silence.”

Matta added, “A formal return [to royal life] for Harry feels incredibly unlikely. Especially if we’re talking about William offering his brother a way back. The trust isn’t there.”

A royal expert referred to William and Harry’s feud as a “different beast” than the drama with King Charles III.

“Perhaps if Charles warms more to Harry, William will feel compelled to follow his lead,” royal expert Kristen Meinzer told Us exclusively.