I have been fascinated by People Magazine’s coverage of the royals once Meghan Markle joined the Firm. People Mag was always stuck on sugary narratives about “Princess Kate” before Meghan, but over the past year, they’ve really dialed back. The editors seem to like Meghan and want to tell Meghan’s story equally, and People was where Meghan’s friends went to spill their tea and correct the record about Meghan. So it’s also interesting that People Mag isn’t leaning into the narrative that there’s some kind of blood feud happening between Meghan and Kate. No, People says it outright: the issue is between Harry and William.
Prince William and Prince Harry are heading down different paths. Despite the royal brothers’ very different roles — William, 36, is preparing to be the future king while Harry, 34, prepares for first-time fatherhood — longtime palace staffers had the “homogeneous idea” of the two princes working in tandem. However, it’s now clear that with the additions of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle — and their growing families — a united foursome wasn’t feasible.
“It was only going to work until they married — and it went on a while longer than perhaps was originally thought,” one palace courtier tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.
“It’s a shame,” says the household source. “There was power in that unity and great strength in the foursome, but I see why it is happening. There is always that tension: trying to do the PR thing and then realizing that they are just real people. They want their own place and their own things.”
The royal brothers heavily relied on each other growing up, especially in the wake of their mother Princess Diana’s death in 1997. And those who know the brothers say that the current distance between them will not last.
“There is never any doubt that they will be there for each other 100 percent and support each other when it matters,” according to one insider. “Maybe they’ll come back together a little later,” says the source close to the royal household. “It’s another stage in the growing up. Sometimes you have to break away in order to come back.”
Do you think Harry and William will eventually bury the hatchet? Or will the rift solidify and get worse in the months and years to come? I think it depends. It depends on what William does, mostly. Does William continue to throw Meghan and Harry under the bus whenever he needs to cover up a negative story? Does William continue to do nothing as his sister-in-law is maligned and smeared by the press? Or will he take the long view and understand that attritional PR warfare makes him look like an a–hole? Who knows. And yes, I think William and Kate were both happy enough with the “Harry is the third wheel” years – they loved that. Now that he’s married and realizing his potential… well, you know.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
I really think when it looked like Harry would be a lifelong tagalong bachelor they were fine. But he found a good woman, and now he’s really seen as an entity that can be a force in the BRF. I think this more than anything is what bothers William.
I feel like it bothers Kate too. Harry was always there to share a laugh and adore her and now he adores someone else.
During the British Olympics, Kate and Harry appeared together at several events. Kate looked like she was having a great time; she’s never looked like that with William. At the time, I remember thinking that Harry had a bit of a crush on her. If you’re married to a sad sack like William, that you’ve humiliated yourself to ‘catch’, having a cute guy like Harry to spend time with might make it easier to bear. Now all his attention is on Megan. It must sting Kate. Now all she has is William. She has the children but I don’t think it would be unnatural to want more out of life. The prospect of being Queen SOME DAY might not be enough, especially if he cheats.
What a similar line of BS that was spun by W&K stans for years. That Harry was secretly in love with Kate, etc.
Complete BS
Harry never had a crush on Kate. Adore her? Please. He admitted he barely knew her prior to the engagement, and subsequent comments prove he doesn’t spend much time around them since their wedding in 2011. She is the opposite of the women he dated, who all had direction and ambition. Harry is a nice person who spends time putting people at ease. When William ignores Kate, Harry is nice to her like he would be with anyone else.
@notasugarhere: I didn’t know that people thought that Harry was secretly in love with Kate. I am most definitely NOT a W&K stan. What I said was something that I noticed years ago. I don’t think that Harry’s been carrying a torch for Kate all these years.
It did seem that Harry was nicer to Kate than her own husband was. Harry seems to be a nice guy. He also might feel a bit sorry for Kate since his brother is a bit of a dud and when Kate was with Harry she was more fun-loving than she normally appears to be.
I love this future king and queen narrative. They all seem to forget Charles and Camilla are next in line, so W&K won’t be there for a good 30 years at least 🙄
But, at least there’s no more blaming the ladies for what is clearly a beef between the guys
When I was watching the Sussex Royal wedding, one of the hosts on one channel, said don’t be surprised if the Royal press starts referring to Kate as future Queen And William as future King and that is exactly what happened almost the day after the Sussex wedding.
Lol
I don’t think it will be 30 years Charles isn’t all that young- but then again look at his mother.
I also appreciate that they are focusing on the brothers because that is clearly the real issue, the women for all we’ve seen seem to quite like each other and enjoy doing events together.
If anyone quite I think it would be William. He looks miserable doing Royal duties or barely interested, I dont know why some say William would,be a good King, IMO PW will be a awful King if he continues the way he now.
Charles would never quit, he would never abdicate. its obvious Charles enjoys his duties.
Chuck is 70. A good 30 years would make Chuck 100. I lay my money on a bet saying Bill Cambridge will be King in about 15 years.
I say 20 to 25 years before William is King.
and more rumours of more and more Affairs for PW over the next 10years.
His mom’s mom died at 101. His dad is 97. Based on genetics and life style alone, Charles could easily live for 30+ years.
Now, will he want to be king in his 90s? Who knows. He doesn’t have the same abdication baggage as his mother.
Stop trying to make Bill Cambridge happen.
@Molly
Well, he has waited his entire life for his chance at the throne. I think the odds of him abdicating are EXTREMELY low. Why would he give up what he’s wanted for 70 years? He waited his turn. He probably thinks, “it won’t kill William to wait his turn too.”
@runcmc: I don’t think he’ll abdicate at 70, 80, or 90, but he may choose to retire at some point if his health declines. His mother has vowed to work until the day she dies (and I totally believe she’ll do it), but a lot can happen when you get old. If he’s as mobile as Phillip presents himself to be at 97, sure, put on a suit each morning and be king forever! But he saw his grandma get old and die, and walkers and frailty aren’t very regal.
Jewel , lol that’s funny.
So Regina George
Yawn. I stopped buying People ages ago.
Hello! has better royal photos.
Years ago, People (25 years ago) was a poor man’s Vanity Fair. Today People, IMHO, is nothing more than a very up-market glossy tabloid.
Yup.
I am in no way saying my life is similar to British royalty. However I’m going through some growing pains in changing family dynamics as well. Thankfully my sister is handling it well and as best she can. My sister has been married with children for close to 13 years now and I have always felt like the third wheel. I’m now getting married and moving across the country to where my husband has an amazing job and I can tell she’s having trouble with the shift in priorities for me. My fiancé and brother in law get along fine but aren’t “friendly” like my previous long time boyfriend. I’ll be the first in my whole family to leave the state of Texas. It feels like I’ve been living through them this whole time and now I get to live my own life and start my own family. It’s weirdly sad for me too. I can’t imagine how hurtful it would feel if she wasn’t as supportive or excited for me.
Congratulations on getting married very exciting!
I remember when my sister got married it was hard, I was happy for her but the dynamic changed and while we didn’t fight it was different and I never fully loved my former brother in law.
This feels normal (to a degree) that things shift when the family dynamic changes.
@Mindy Dopple Congratulations! I hope that you have a wonderful marriage and a truly Happy life.
Perhaps one way to view the future, from a positive perspective, is that even though it will initially be difficult to disentangle yourself from your very close-knit family unit, you’ll grow and evolve in your new role and new state: you may discover interests or aspects of your personality you’ve not known before, and so will be able to bring a diversity of new-found passions, enthusiasms, hobbies, experiences to the table: your relationships with family may become even more rounded, because enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm. Stock conversations may change, you’ll be able to discover aspects of your family you’ve not seen in the past, and reunions will be a time of excitement and sharing. All the very best.
Yup. Everything was cool while Harry was a cheerful, if perhaps dim, clown. And I think if he had married a dull lazy aristo girl and the two of them were as lazy a couple as Will and Kate, things would be fine too. The problem is he married a woman who actually has a mind of her own and is not work-shy.
This^^^^^ A million times this!
William seems really insecure.
He’s lazy and incurious about the world. Like Trump, he’s not really respected, and he knows it, and that makes him angry. It must grate that Harry, the screw-up, has turned his image around so successfully.
Tbf Harry has had *a lot* of help turning that image around.
Harry did the work and turned himself around.
I don’t know. I can kind of see this starting to happen in the next few years as Meg and Harry raise their family. There will be more “in common” again, with the kids, family birthdays, etc. While they may not have a lot of future *work* in common, I think there will be a mending of fences of a sort, just not the same “closeness”. Their roles, their interests won’t necessarily coincide, but I can see some things still coming back as they grow.
THANK YOU PEOPLE for focusing on the men who both seem childish, stubborn and frankly spoiled. The way those brothers behave at functions together is a joke and has a ring of both of them taking their ball home because they didn’t get there way. Compare this to how Kate and Meghan act: laughing, chatting, hugging etc. And you have to wonder why the media and so many people want to pit them against each other and tear one down to prop the other (it goes both ways and the people who do it are beyond sexist).
The issue is with the brothers and I am sure they will get over it, they are family and I do think they are close it will just take time.
Yup, 100% agree.
I think eventually they will have to bury the hatchet and get along, Chuck will insist on this when he becomes King.
But as Kaiser says its all down to William and his behaviour going forward. If William continues to ‘reject’ Meghan and allow the media to throw her under the bus to inflate his wife then I think that will have a lasting impact on the relationship. Its clear to me that the issue is that William just does not like Meghan and didn’t want Harry to marry her. He is being insecure and jealous of Harry and the Sussex’s popularity. Being King means nothing if you don’t have the respect of those who you are expected to lead – W&K’s image is taking a hit with the dog whistle racism aimed at Meghan, they are just too stupid to see the damage that their silence on press’s behaviour is having on their image.
As I’ve said on here before both Princes’s married women who reflect who they are as men.
I agree that Charles will want them to get along. The Queen seems fine to let Charles and Andrew fight while everyone just writes passive aggressive letters(?) back and forth instead of getting in a room and talking like a boss to her employees.
The royal family is weird, but Charles is no fool. He knows that his slimmed down Firm being well-liked and popular is much better for the brand than behind the scenes sabotage.
In terms of official work the whole Fab Four thing was never going to work mainly because the two couples just seem to have a very different approach to “royaling.” The Cambridges are trying more as of late, but still come across as mid-20th century style royals. Meanwhile the Sussexes’ vibe reminds me of that of the Scandinavian royals, a little less buttoned up and more interactive with people.
Is this People Mag way of not talking about the Affair rumours?
Lol
LOL, checking Google News, the story is popping up, they’re even explaining Toffs(Norfolk)
Lol
I am going against popular opinion. I think they are done. As reference see Charles and Andrew. Fraternal feuds are nothing new.
Of course they will put up the public appearances for official occasions but they are not besties. They are no Jonas brothers, more like Cain and Abel.
Royal,
I agree. They are done and will go separate ways. Fortunately Meghan is savvy enough to use their position for appropriate public interest initiatives such as the Oprah/Harry mental health series. She is no Fergie!
I hope she can monetize their position appropriately, so that the Sussexes build a trust for the time when William is King and begins playing purse string games. (Those have already started!) I mean this in the best possible way. Same for their social position.
Indeed Anance. They need to be prudent with $ because they are at risk of being treated in the long run, the same way George and Mary treated Edward and Wallis. The older brother has a fragile ego so they need to tread carefully with that one.
I really hope this isn’t the case, because the Andrew and Charles split is not anything like the rift between William and Harry, and it irks me when people try to compare the two.
Andrew was caught being friendly with a convicted pedophile and a sex trafficker. Not only that, he was accused of having had sex with an underage girl while in the home of said pedophile and sex trafficker. He only just escaped the call to testify and had every mention of the issue suppressed in the press because he is the Queen’s favorite and it’s rumoured that she pulled her weight on this issue. And this is setting aside everything else that he’s done, including his stint as the UK trade ambassador, and the fact that he’s openly friendly with inexplicably shady billionaires around the world.
Charles dislikes Andrew because he’s a massive liability to the RF and keeps embarrassing them continuously. Charles doesn’t have the sort of clout required to protect Andrew when the Queen passes, so he’s cutting him loose. Not to mention, the distasteful stuff he’s done would make anyone cut off their brother.
Harry, as far as we know, hasn’t engaged in that sort of behaviour. William’s main issue with Harry seems to be the fact that he married Meghan. The comparisons with Edward and Wallis don’t hold either–Edward voluntarily abdicated the throne, so the idea that he should be subsidized by the royal family is frankly ridiculous. H&M are fairly dedicated people, and if William cuts them loose because he of his personal issues, that’s really his loss tbh.
I think a lot of this is due to Wm’s reluctance to fully embrace Meghan as his s-i-l and Harry’s beloved wife. Harry may forgive but will never forget.
I hope that Will & Harry’s children have enough contact to develop a friendly kinship & real fondness. That’ll take some degree of effort from K & M to arrange visits & outings other than just mandatory appearances around QE’s events.
I think so many people fell in love with the idea of William and Harry leaning on each other forever. A lot of people have been following the brothers’ lives since they were children and feel some type of ownership over them. The truth is that growing up and growing apart is natural for siblings. I love my family dearly, but I don’t want to be around them 24/7.
Some people are too invested in the lives of public figures. Will and Harry don’t belong to us. They are not our brothers or sons. They are real people with real emotions and issues. They have duties and responsibilities that don’t include following each other around like puppies. We rarely see Prince Charles together with all of his siblings, and it’s no big deal.
I think you are spot on about people feeling that they ‘own’ William and Harry. That feeling of ownership is what forced two children to grieve the death of their mother in public, for the benefit of all those people wailing outside Buckingham Palace. I will never forget the sight of two young boys, walking behind their mother’s coffin on one of the worst days of their lives for the sake of a bunch of hysterics. It made me sick then and the memory makes me sick now.
Harry and William might not like each other very much. They’ve both been through some stuff and it could have drawn them apart. Blood isn’t always thicker than water.
Spot on. It was vile and traumatic. And illogical to make them all come back from Balmoral. I couldn’t understand why they felt the Queen had ‘let them down’ and appalled by it all.
Chatty Cath – I remember at the time thinking that the Palace PR had really dropped the ball – all they needed to do was release a two lined statement along the lines of ‘HM and the Royal Family are shocked and saddened at the recent death of the late Princess of Wales. They will be remaining at Balmoral for the next few days to allow Princes William and Harry, her sons, to grieve in private’.
As we all know, this didn’t happen, and sections of the press, led as I recall by the Murdoch publication The Sun, whipped up the shock and grief into anger with inflammatory headlines and the like.
If William dislikes Meghan, he should win an award for his performance on their wedding eve and day.
Harry is not a third wheel anymore to entertain Catherine at events, the man cannot let go of Meghan’s hand long enough to shake strangers hands.
After Meghan’ and Harry’s successful tour, all hell broke loose at KP, with the Courtiers taking to their smelling salts.
Meghan was already formed when she married Harry, she was going to listen to their advise, and questioned it.
Another thing she is getting hell for, is not sucking to upper class.
What about scarfgate?
Harry and William might NOT be able to heal the rift. Some things are unforgivable. Harry might wonder what was behind William’s dismissal of Megan when William is married to a woman who spent TEN YEARS doing nothing but chase after him. Megan is an intelligent, well-educated, successful woman who clearly loves Harry very much. So what was William’s REAL problem with her? Harry’s no fool. Nitpick all you want about HOW Black his children will be, they WILL be people of colour. He might want to protect them from people who will view their Black heritage as something negative.
But the only thing is that he is still part of the system that view his wife as less then and will do the same for his children. He can move to Windsor all he want but at the end of the day his helping keep the class system in place and using all the privileges that comes with it including housing, money ect. You can’t be trying to protect your family from something but then using that same thing to your benefits.
To be honest,they all appear as living oxymorons in a lot of aspects of their lives. From what they preach and what they actually do,to issues like the ones you’re rightfully highlighting.
@letsjustsay: Harry might have a ‘road to Damascus’ moment in his future. After his child is born, he might have to come to terms with his place and participation in a system that ensures that HIS CHILD will always be less than. It’s probably hard when it’s your wife, but Megan is an adult. With a family like she has, she probably knows how to deal with the kind of ugliness she’s been exposed to at the hands of the press. We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but Megan’s managed to hold her head high and conduct herself with grace and STYLE.
But imagine it’s your precious little baby. What’s Harry going to do when the wolves come after his child? It’s going to turn his world upside down. I think the next few years are going to be interesting.
Maybe…but I still believe this whole affair story and the way the pres has treated Meghan hasnt been a coincidence.
Yup.
Even PEOPLE doing this rift story now is suspect. IMO
When I read the cover It reads like , read in between the lines folks, Meghan broke up the happy brothers or when the WOC came into the scene she broke them up. ITS sly but it’s there.
I won’t buy the magazine, it’s just more negative Royal press.
Let’s pretend that tabloids don’t like click bait,that maybe (maybe) some people inside or close to the palaceS (yes,CH and BP too) don’t like Meghan and are feeding some of the negative stories about her,the ones that are not fabricated.. Now it’s just common knowledge that it’s the lazy,bitter William the one who is launching smearing campaigns every day,with his mouthpieces located in every tabloid,magazine of the world.
In all of this,Meghan and Harry,who are very often hailed as the superpowerful global couple,in charge of their mediatic coverage,can’t do anything if not being thrown under the bus by William who,when it’s convenient,suddenly becomes the only one who can use lawyers,who has the media power (!!!) and literally everyone on his payroll.
It’s funny that the other day Richard Kay,who was recently accused of throwing them under the bus at William’s request, wrote a piece that was meant to be very positive about M&H,praising the feminist,modern Meghan who is choosing to give birth as she wants (groundbreaking, apparently! ),and he found a way to repeat the same snarky things he wrote in the other infamous piece.. lol
Probably he has a special contract with William and Carole that requires him to be shady even when he wants to say something positive. . Who knows.. lol
I don’t think it’s all William and Carole. I think that they all have the same sort of opinion as each other when it comes to Meghan, but it’s probably a very common opinion among the aristocracy. I don’t think there’s really a conspiracy here.
Thank you for mentioning the Princess Kate thing. I find it so sketchy that People reverted to calling her by her maiden name after Harry got married instead of them calling Meghan “Princess Meghan” like Kate.
Yup
There will always be issues with William. He is a reluctant King that hates to work. He’s very competitive with PH and was raised to believe he is better. PH ‘s popularity has always been an issue but he’s tolerated this by thinking no one really takes Harry seriously so it wasn’t a big deal….until Meghan. Meghan elevated Harry, with her education, life experiences, beauty and she is everything Kate isn’t. Now Harry is just as competitive as William. I absolutely believe it was love at first sight for Harry. Meghan ticked every box including the fact that she could out perform Kate. So at first I believe William and Kate liked Meghan but had their guard up. It was the Australia tour that changed everything. Harry grew into a man in the front of all of our eyes especially William! The public’s response, IMO shook the Royal Family to its core, especially William. At that time Kate was still on leave. William was trying his best to steal the spotlight but he couldn’t. He was making appearances and giving speeches but all eyes stayed on Harry/Meghan! Can you imagine how unsettling that had to be for the future King! It’s really sad because when all is said and done this will all come down to one word…..Jealousy! and jealousy has no limitation when revenge and power are the motivating factors…
I don’t think this People article is much of anything, but I do think that William has underestimated just how far Harry will go to protect his wife (and child). The signs were there from the beginning with the Love Shield, but the real change in the relationship is that Harry is not going to tolerate attacks on his wife coming from the inside. Be it from the courtiers or from the Cambridge’s themselves, Harry is not going to stand for it and separating the social media accounts and moving to Windsor shows how much Harry wants to distance himself from the passive aggressive attacks he got when he was a single guy. William has never protected Kate in this way so he doesn’t understand it. The rift may be repairable, but it’s going to depend on Billy’s ego and I don’t have much faith that he’s going to find any humility.
I know we dont know a lot of what has happened, but following the patterns over the past month i.e. the smear after a successful M&H tour, the baby announcement, the uptick in Bill and Cath’s work, Cath wearing pants!, and now they disappear as soon as Meghan goes on maternity leave. I know a lot is going on but it’a pretty dang obvious that Bill and Cath, and probably even the Middleton’s have engineered this smear against Meghan. Say what you will about Harry, good and bad, but he loves is wife and unborn baby and some things are inexcusable imo. This smear campaign has really brought out the dirty side of the Cambridges. I think they are done. If it were me, I would be done.
I think they will make up eventually. I think it’ll happen once William warms up a bit more to Meghan, when she’s been around enough and sort of “proven” herself as one of them in his eyes. I think it sucks that she has to do that, but I think that William is also generally cagey and untrustworthy (see also: the whole Rose Hanbury saga) of everyone around him who’s “new.”
I think also that the two of them have been raised to rely on each other. Like it or not, they only get the one sibling. Some day, they’ll only have each other, and I think for better or worse, they’ll stick it out.
It’s not that people is pro Meghan. They are getting paid through a PR agency to give at least 10 positive articles about her. Fluff pieces like she’s a yogi /healthy etc. Than when there’s negative press about her, people is always the first to issue a counter piece.
I hope they’re able to mend their relationship. At the end of the day, they will always be brothers.
This relationship is over it will never be the same. Once William decided to throw his sister-in-law and his unborn niece or nephew to the wolves that was the end of that relationship. He doesn’t like Meghan and more than likely view her as a gold digger who is using his stupid in love little brother.
If this is a Cain and Abel situation that is scary as hell. Harry and Meghan better watch their back. Just being real. If this continues people will see the scratches in the veneer of the monarchy and it cannot survive if a bright light shines on it. Citizens of the commonwealth are not stupid. Showing major disrespect to the WOC about wearing jewelry obtained in some instances by questionable means is not a good look. Stoking the flames of racism could end up with someone being hurt or killed. This family is going to descend into chaos with the demise of Prince Phillip and the Queen.
I do think Harry is now “woke” and beginning to realize how often he took the fall so his brother looked good. Once a person realizes they have been used the relationship with the user is never the same again.