Fri, May 31, 2024 at 8:11 PM GMT+7·15 min read3
- There have been reports of a rift between Harry and Meghan and William and Kate for years.
- Harry publicly spoke about the fall-out with William in his memoir, “Spare.”
- William and Kate have yet to address the broken relationship.
Reports of a rift between Prince Harry and Meghan and Prince William and Kate first surfaced in 2018.
Prince Harry was the first to open up about the rumors, telling Tom Bradby in 2019 that he and William were “on different paths.”
He has since provided more details about the rift in his memoir, “Spare,” and his Netflix docuseries. William and Kate, meanwhile, have rarely spoken on the subject.
Here’s a complete timeline of the fallout so far.
Reports of tension between the two couples emerged in November 2018 after Meghan and Harry announced plans to move out of London’s Kensington Palace, where they resided with Kate and William.
The Duke and Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 resided close to the Cambridge family in an apartment in the grounds of Kensington Palace after their royal wedding in May 2018. Just six months later, they announced plans to relocate 18 miles away to Frogmore Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
During this time there were several reports about the status of the couple’s relationship with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
“Two years ago the idea of Harry leaving Kensington Palace was unthinkable but a lot has changed,” a royal source told Vanity Fair in a November 2018 report. “He wants to be his own person, not in William’s shadow.”
Another source told the publication that tensions first emerged the year prior, because “Harry felt William wasn’t rolling out the red carpet for Meghan and told him so.”
It was reported that Meghan and Kate argued at a bridesmaids’ fitting.
The Telegraph reported in November 2018 that Kate was “left in tears following a bridesmaids dress fitting for Princess Charlotte” before Meghan and Harry’s royal wedding earlier that year.
While the cause of the fall-out wasn’t reported, one source told the publication that Kate “had only just given birth to Prince Louis and was feeling quite emotional.”
In May 2020, a similar report in Tatler claimed that the women fought over bridesmaids’ tights at the wedding rehearsal.
Kate’s representatives at Kensington Palace denied the report, previously telling Business Insider that the article “contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations.”
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan said the original report saying she had made Kate cry was untrue as the “reverse happened.”
“But she owned it, and she apologized, and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing,” Meghan said.
By March 2019, the royal women were regularly pitted against each other in the media.
While Meghan and Kate appeared at various events together at the beginning of 2019 — and were even pictured hugging at the royal Commonwealth Day service — reports indicated that the women were feuding.
TLC even released a documentary titled “Kate v. Meghan: Princesses at War.”
However, royal expert Marlene Koenig previously told BI that the press may have used photos from this time strategically to support the feud narrative.
“The British press picks up something, the way they look at each other, it’s ‘Oh, they hate each other,'” Koenig said. “But that’s a photo frame. You go to the next photo frame and they’re smiling.”
Also in March, Harry and Meghan announced they were officially splitting their office from Kate and William.
Buckingham Palace confirmed in March 2019 that a new household would be created for the Duke and Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 in the spring.
The Queen gave permission for the couple to form a new office at Buckingham Palace with their own staff, separate from the office they previously shared with the Wales family. Reports from the time suggested the couple originally requested their office to be completely independent of Buckingham Palace, but this was denied.
William and Kate took eight hours to publicly acknowledge the birth of Harry and Meghan’s first child.
Michelle Obama, Theresa May, and Meghan’s former “Suits” costar Patrick J. Adams were among those to send well wishes to the couple after their son Archie was born on May 6, 2019.
The Prince and Princess of Wales waited eight hours to congratulate the couple with the statement: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted with the news of the birth of The Duke and Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍’s son today, and look forward to meeting the latest addition to the family.”
In May 2019, ITV royal editor Chris Ship said the “issue” was between William and Harry, and had nothing to do with their wives.
“There was an issue between William and Harry. It was written as a problem between the wives — that actually isn’t true,” Ship said on the Air Time podcast for ITV.
“We’re told it’s slightly better now, we’re told they’ve been having a conversation after Archie was born,” he added. “A royal aide told me recently that they’re back on track. It remains to be seen.”
Harry and Meghan cut ties with the charity they shared with William and Kate in June 2019.
Kensington Palace confirmed in June 2019 that Harry and Meghan were resigning from The Royal Foundation — the charity Harry and William established together in 2009 — in order to start their own charity.
Royal correspondent Emily Andrews said at the time that she believed the royal rift may have been the reason for the split.
“Things did get very bad between the brothers and they didn’t see each other privately for a number of months after the royal wedding,” an anonymous source told Andrews.
Meghan sat with Kate and Pippa Middleton at Wimbledon in July 2019.
Meghan and Kate stepped out at a handful of events together in 2019, including a charity polo match and 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 Archie’s christening. But the most surprising appearance was likely their joint Wimbledon appearance in July, shortly after Meghan and Harry resigned from The Royal Foundation.
They attended the women’s singles final at the Royal Box with Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton.
Prince Harry confirmed rumors of a rift between himself and his brother in October 2019, saying they were “on different paths.”
Speaking on the ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan: An African Journey,” the Duke of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 said: “Part of this role and part of this job, this family, being under the pressure that it’s under, inevitably stuff happens. 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. ”
He added: “We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy, but I love him dearly. The majority of this stuff is created out of nothing, but as brothers, you know, you have good days, you have bad days.”
Harry and Meghan attended the same Remembrance event as William and Middleton in November 2019, but they didn’t appear to speak to each other.
The couples came face to face for the first time since Harry confirmed a rift the month prior, at the Festival of Remembrance in London.
The Duke and Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 and the then-titled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge entered the venue separately, and the couples were not seated together for the service.
Prince William attended the Queen’s crisis summit over Harry and Markle’s future after the couple announced their “step back” in January 2020.
The summit at the Queen’s Sandringham residence took place on January 13, five days after Harry and Meghan announced their step back.
The summit included a one-to-one conversation between Her Majesty and the Duke of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 followed by a two-hour meeting with William and Charles, the Mail Online reported.
The details of the meeting were initially kept private, though Harry later revealed in his Netflix docuseries that William had screamed at him.
“It became very clear very quickly that that goal was not up for discussion or debate,” Harry said in “Harry and Meghan,” in December 2022.
“It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me.”
The palace denied a report that the Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍es had been “bullied” out of the royal family. Years later, Harry said he never gave permission for his name to be included on the statement.
“Despite clear denials, a false story ran in a UK newspaper today speculating about the relationship between The Duke of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 and The Duke of Cambridge,” a spokesperson for the brothers told royal correspondent Rebecca English on January 18, 2020.
“For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful,” the statement went on.
English added that it was made “clear from my conversations this morning that BOTH brothers are deeply, deeply unhappy about suggestions that Harry feels he has been ‘bullied’ out of the Royal Family by William.”
The statement was thought to be in response to an article in The Times, which reported that Meghan and Harry “regard themselves as having been pushed away from the royal family by the ‘bullying’ attitude of his brother the Duke of Cambridge.”
Years later, Harry said he never gave permission for his name to appear on the statement.
In his Netflix docuseries, which aired in December 2022, Harry said he had only been told about the statement after it was released.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said in episode five of the series, cited by Huffington Post. “No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that.”
“And I rang M and I told her and she burst into floods of tears. Because within four hours they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us,” he said.
Harry, William, Kate and Meghan came face-to-face in March 2020 — but the reunion appeared to be awkward.
Harry and Meghan’s final royal engagement was the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, which they attended alongside William and Kate. This was the first time the couples were seen publicly together since the Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍es’ resignation was announced.
Although they entered the venue at a similar time and were seated just a row apart from each other, they did not interact or make eye contact at the event.
After Harry and Meghan moved to California, the brothers reportedly got back in touch.
“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,” Vanity Fair royal correspondent Katie 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.”
In March 2021, Meghan and Harry told Oprah that unnamed family members commented on their son Archie’s skin tone before his birth.
In their first major interview after leaving royal life, the couple told Oprah Winfrey that some royals had “concerns” about their son Archie’s complexion before his birth. They didn’t name who made the comments.
“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement on behalf of the Queen. “While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
A couple of days after the interview aired, Prince William told reporters that “we’re very much not a racist family.”
In December 2023, a Dutch translation of Omid Scobie’s book about the royal family, “Endgame,”named King Charles and Kate as the family members who made the comments about Archie.
The book was temporarily removed from shelves, and the royal family didn’t publicly comment on the allegations.
Harry reunited with his family at Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021.
Harry traveled from California to London for the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip, who died on April 9, 2021, at the age of 99. Meghan, who was pregnant with the couple’s second child, did not attend — though she watched the service on TV, a spokesperson told Business Insider at the time.
Harry and William walked in the funeral procession, but they did not stand together. Their cousin, Peter Phillips, was positioned between them.
However, they were filmed chatting together after the funeral, leaving the public confused about the status of their relationship.
Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” was released in January 2023, providing further insight into his rift with William.
In the memoir, Harry wrote that he and William’s relationship had been falling apart for years — and it got significantly worse after he met Meghan.
In one part of the book, Harry recounted a 2019 fight between himself and William in which he said his brother physically attacked him.
He said William came to his home and started complaining about Meghan, calling her “difficult,” “rude,” and “abrasive.”
Harry said things became physical after he offered William a glass of water in an attempt to get him to calm down.
“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast,” he said.
“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me,” he went on to say. “I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”
Harry also wrote how the brothers had no contact at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022, at her Balmoral Castle residence in Scotland. She was 96.
Kate, William, Harry, and Meghan made multiple appearances together in London following the monarch’s death. But, according to Harry’s memoir, the relationship had completely broken down behind the scenes.
Writing in “Spare,” Harry said he planned to visit the Queen in Scotland when he heard news that she was unwell, and he texted William to see how he was getting there — but his message went unanswered.
When the Queen died, Harry said he found out via the news rather than from his family.
By the time the funeral came around, Harry said he and his brother were “barely exchanging a word.”
Kate announced she had cancer in March. The Sunday Times reported that Harry and Meghan found out about it on TV with the rest of the world.
Kate announced in March that she had been diagnosed with cancer after abdominal surgery in January and was undergoing “preventative chemotherapy.”
“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace,” the Duke and Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 said in a statement at the time.
According to a report by The Sunday Times, Harry and Meghan weren’t aware of Kate’s condition until they saw the announcement on TV.
Several sources told the outlet that Kate’s condition wasn’t discussed with Harry and Meghan, and the couple found out “from television, at the same time as the public.”
In May, William was given a new military role that could be considered a snub to Harry.
People reported in May that King Charles had appointed William as Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps.
The publication pointed out that the role could have been intended for Harry before he stepped back for royal duties, as he trained as an Army Air Corps pilot in 2009 and during his second tour in Afghanistan until 2014.
