Last year, as King Charles was undergoing treatment for cancer and looking pretty rough around the edges, there was definitely consistent gossip that Charles was not long for this world and that Prince William would be king soon enough. Which led to a huge amount of speculation about… whether William would want his brother at his coronation. Like, that was the “big story” and the focus of multiple reports and commentary, whether they could somehow convince King William to order Harry to come to his coronation. Roya Nikkhah (one of William’s favorites) repeatedly claimed that William does not want Harry at his coronation, but other commentators balked at the idea that William would be so “foolish” as to exclude his only brother. Of course, we’ve also heard repeatedly that William has apparently told people that he will only see Harry one more time in his life – at their father’s funeral. It’s clear that William sits around, stewing in his incandescent rage, plotting about how he won’t invite Harry to this or that. In any case, this was brought up again in the 60 Minutes Australia interview with Jason Knauf, only they had to interview that “butler” Grant Harrold to provide extra color commentary:

Princes William and Harry were a ‘team’ in childhood and always played ‘practical jokes’ on each other, a former royal butler has revealed. Grant Harrold, who worked at King Charles’s personal home Highgrove between 2004 and 2011, has shared insights about the royal family as part of a new documentary for 60 Minutes Australia – including the once tight-knit relationship between the now-warring brothers.

William and Harry were manly raised at Highgrove House after King Charles purchased the property in 1980 and it became his main residence. Mr Harrold told the Australian programme that the siblings, who have a two year age gap, were always ‘joking around’ together and had a close relationship with one another.

‘The two of them were practical jokers, they were a team and they used to wind each other up and if you were involved in it, you’d get brought into this wind up situation, this comedy, brotherly fun,’ he said. ‘It was like that all the time, that’s why it’s sad how that’s completely changed, it’s extraordinary [to see] how much that could change.’

However, despite all of this, Mr Harrold believes that the broken bond between the future King and the ‘spare’ won’t last forever. Instead, he believes that the pair will reunite at the Prince of Wales’ Coronation.

‘I have no doubt that William would want his brother, not as much to play a part in it, but certainly to be there,’ Mr Harrold said. When the journalist asked the former butler whether Harry would want to play a part in it, he replied: ‘It appears to be that he’s quite happy with his new life and his way of doing things which you couldn’t get further away from the royal family if you tried with what’s he’s doing. But saying that I do think he will be there to support his brother and as he has been for his father.’

[From The Daily Mail]

From the start, I’ve found this whole conversation macabre and pathetic from William/sources close to Peg. As I said, they’re giving the impression that they’re plotting about funeral and coronation invitations and it’s all about the audience of one: everything is for Harry, everything is about Harry, everything is about William’s desire to control Harry. It’s unsettling.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.