The ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty, a royal expert has claimed.
Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, are currently residing in their $14million mansion in Santa Barbara with one-year-old son Archie, having stepped back from duty in March last year.
Speaking to Elle.com, royal biographer Robert Lacey said he thought ‘there will be some sort of reconciliation’ between the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Cambridge this year.
But he said the brother’s relationship is ‘never going to be the same’, explaining: ‘I expect that is the long-term solution here: Duty in the form of William and Kate will take over the situation, and Harry and his love will enjoy the freedom of America and, I hope, obviously there will be some sort of reconciliation.’
The ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty, royal expert Robert Lacey has claimed
Robert said the brother’s long ‘history and texture’ would always be there, suggesting they both ‘took something different’ from their parent’s marriage breakdown.
The royal expert explained the Duke of Cambridge had found ‘strength’ in his duty, saying: ‘At least he had this duty, this responsibility to be King, the future monarch, and he had to live up to that.’
Meanwhile he said Prince Harry ‘took a different lesson’ from the relationship, adding that the Duke was going to ‘go for love…unapologetically.’
He added: ‘His parents were locked into an arranged, loveless marriage, and he’s not going to make that mistake.’
Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, are currently living in their $14 million mansion in California, having stepped back from royal duty in March
It is believed the trigger that caused the rift to develop between William and Harry was when the Duke of Cambridge advised his younger sibling to ‘take things slow’ when he first began dating Meghan Markle in 2017.
Relations became so sour that they reportedly didn’t talk for weeks after Harry’s wedding, where William was best man. Then Megxit, and the way it was handled, left William and Charles devastated.
In a documentary in 2019 – Harry & Meghan: An African Journey – the Duke of Sussex, admitted he and William are ‘certainly on different paths at the moment’.
He told ITV’s Tom Bradby: ‘Inevitably stuff happens. But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers.’
During lockdown, a source told Fabulous Digital that the brothers have been chatting via Zoom.
‘William finds Zoom a good, informal way of keeping in touch, and some would say “tabs”, on his younger brother,’ they said, adding that the calls remain private between the two brothers, with a friend close to the pair claiming William is ‘very anxious’ to keep the calls ‘low key and casual’.
Meanwhile there are hopes the unveiling of the new Princess Diana statue at Kensington Palace this summer ‘will help to heal old wounds’ for the brothers.
A statement on behalf of the Duke of Sussex and Duke of Cambridge issued by Kensington Palace in August read: ‘The statue that Prince William and Prince Harry have commissioned to commemorate their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, will be installed next year on what would have been her 60th birthday.’
The couples were last seen together in public at the Commonwealth Day service in March of this year
The statue was commissioned to mark the twentieth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death and recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world.
Robert’s comments about the brother’s relationship comes days after royal biographer Angela Levin claimed Prince Harry has ‘discarded life as an action man to become an airy-fairy do-gooder’ with a ‘woke West Coast life’.
Royal expert Angela, who wrote Harry: Conversations with the Prince in 2018, has claimed that the Duke has become a ‘shadow of his former self’ since moving to California.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, she said while Prince Harry ‘balked at being “the spare” to Prince William, he seems to accept being second to Meghan’.
The biographer said Prince Harry’s recent appearances were ‘out of character’ from the royal she once knew, who would instantly identify with everyone he spoke to.
Robert’s comments come days after royal expert Angela Levin said while Prince Harry ‘balked at being “the spare” to Prince William , he seems to accept being second to Meghan’
Her comments come days after royal expert Hugo Vickers said Prince Harry is ‘isolated from his family, the army, his friends, the Commonwealth’ in the US, telling The Telegraph: ‘It’s a pointless existence in self-exile.’
The royal biographer compared Prince Harry’s actions to those of Prince William and Kate, adding: ‘During the NHS clapping, I thought how, after the Cambridges clapped, it would have been great to have heard from him.’
Earlier this week, the Duke and Duchess launched the website for their non-profit organisation Archewell, and set out their goal to ‘build a better world’ in an open letter posted online.
But the site prominently plugs the couple’s commercial ventures – Archewell Audio, the brand they have chosen for their £30m podcasting deal with Spotify, and Archewell Productions, their chosen name for their Netflix production tie-up said to be worth as much as £100m.
The announcement follows their first Spotify podcast on Tuesday which saw their son Archie make his broadcast debut.