For the last four years, the fractured relationship between royal brothers Prince Harry and Prince William has been a matter of much public speculation. But earlier this year, Harry published his memoir, Spare, and revealed plenty of details about just how broken the relationship had become, including the story of an alleged physical altercation between the two.
According to royal biographer Omid Scobie, the brothers are still not on speaking terms nearly a year after Harry broke his silence. Scobie, a co-author of the bestselling biography Finding Freedom, told People that Harry hoped his memoir would help him communicate with his family, but “there is no going back” for the brothers. “I saw Harry’s release of Spare as his last attempt at telling his family how he’s felt for years,” Scobie said. “Because clearly there’s never been an open enough forum to have these conversations or share these feelings.”
Later this month, Scobie will release Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight For Survival, a book that will discuss the aftermath of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and further dissect the fallout that resulted when Harry and wife Meghan Markle stepped back from their royal roles in early 2020. “I was talking to a source quite early on in the process, and they called Harry a ‘defector’ and said that was William’s view,” he said. “These were two men who once upon a time were firmly aligned in their outlook. One of them had to move on to also protect the crown.”
Scobie told People that he thinks William has prioritized a certain vision of the monarchy over his relationship with his brother. “In the eyes of some within the institution, Harry is a threat to the crown,” he said. “His freedom to exert his own thinking outside of the confines of the institution has made him the enemy.”
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