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Princess Kate and Prince William ‘Got Into a Big Fight’ Over His Possible Reconciliation With Harry
Their estrangement has been painful. In January, while promoting his bombshell-filled memoir, Spare, Prince Harry admitted it had been “a while” since he’d spoken to his brother, Prince William, and their father, King Charles III.
“But I look forward to us being able to find peace,” Harry said on 60 Minutes. The last time the three royals were seen in public together was nearly a year ago at the late Queen Elizabeth II’s committal service. And though Harry attended Charles’ coronation in May, the monarch, William and their wives didn’t interact with him at all, says a palace source: “The wounds are just too Depp to be easily healed.”
But there’s hope. “William wants to extend an olive branch to Harry,” the insider reveals. “It’s a shocking about-face, but he feels it’s long overdue.”
There’s a big hurdle to overcome, however: Princess Kate. “She feels that Harry and especially Meghan have done enough damage to the royal family, and will do even more damage if they’re let back in. When William told Kate he wants to bury the hatchet with Harry, she was incensed, and she and William got into a big fight. She’ll never forgive Meghan for what she did.”
The rift between the brothers started in 2018 before Harry, 38, married Meghan, 42, and widened when the couple left the royal family and moved to America in 2020. Things became even more contentious as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared their side of the story in an explosive 2021 CBS interview.
Then came their 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, and, most recently, Harry’s book. Through it all, William and Kate remained dignified and silent. But privately they’ve been grappling with feelings of hurt and betrayal, the source says.
“Kate has drawn a hard line in the sand — she’s not changing her mind about them,” the insider explains. “They never apologized for their lies. But it’s harder for William because Harry is his brother. It’s a horrible situation all around.”
William and Kate, both 41, disagree with Harry’s claims that they were unwelcoming to Meghan when he brought her into the royal fold. “The future king and queen feel like they did everything in their power to form a bond with Meghan and Harry, but she isolated him and put up walls,” says the source. “William and Kate have gone back and forth trying to figure out where they went wrong, but at a certain point, they had to step back and stop blaming themselves. As they see it, it’s all Meghan’s fault.”
Yet William, with the understanding he’ll one day lead the royal family — and that he and Harry are forever bonded by the mutual grief caused by the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana — has tried to see the bigger picture. “He wants to meet Harry in the States before the end of the summer,” says the source. “They could meet halfway — in New York. William just has to convince Kate it’s the right thing to do. They’re fighting a lot about the situation.”
The stories about Kate that Meghan and Harry shared publicly have cut deep. In the same bombshell-filled 2021 CBS interview in which the Sussexes accused the royal family of harboring an unnamed racist, Meghan told the world that Kate made her cry, then apologized with flowers — challenging the narrative in the U.K. press that it was Meghan who’d driven Kate to tears during a squabble over Princess Charlotte’s 2018 bridesmaid dress fitting.
Then there’s everything Harry said in his memoir. He partially blamed William and Kate for his poor decision to wear a Nazi costume in 2005, claiming they gave it their approval. He alleged that William physically attacked him in the kitchen during a disagreement about Meghan’s behavior. Harry also detailed private interactions he and Meghan had with Kate that painted her in an unflattering light — including how Kate “grimaced” and “reluctantly” agreed when Meghan asked to borrow her lip gloss before a joint event.
Harry also accused Kate of being “on edge” once she realized she was “going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg.”
Kate feels there’s no turning back now, but William isn’t backing down. And while Harry may have to think long and hard about meeting up with his brother, Meghan will be more easily swayed. “She knows it’s in their best interest to get closer to Charles now that he’s king,” the source says. “With their Spotify deal over, options are running out and Meghan knows it. Charles can help them — a lot. But no reunions will be forged as long as Kate continues to dig in her heels.”
