25 September 2023 , 06:39
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Prince William will have kept Harry very much in his thoughts "during quieter moments" on his trip to New York, a royal expert has said.
Last Tuesday, the Prince of Wales attended the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit, where finalists were revealed for a £50 million award to encourage and support the fight against environmental challenges. He later visited the FDNY Ten House, a fire station opposite the World Trade Centre, and went on a walkabout outside.
Despite his busy schedule, William managed to find time for himself at one point during the trip - admitting to taking a morning jog around Central Park. However, he is not thought to have met up with his younger sibling Harry, who moved to the US in early 2020.
William and Kate in Wales on September 8 (WireImage)Reflecting on there being no sign of reconciliation between the brothers, royal biographer Duncan Larcombe told OK! Magazine: "There are always going to be certain things that will remind William of his younger brother and that will be upsetting for him – I don’t doubt that for a second. I’d love to know how much of the Invictus Games William saw and whether or not he even dared watch the Netflix documentary about it. Maybe it was just too painful for him.
"It’s such a shame. Things could have been so different if the boys were on speaking terms. They could have lent some clout to each other’s projects. These opportunities are lost." Despite the hurt feelings, Mr Larcombe believes that William and Kate are determined to focus on the present. "I think William’s way of dealing with it is to focus on the job in hand, and that’s how he’s coped. It’s the same with Kate. They’re rolling their sleeves up and getting on with it and William’s trip to New York is no exception to that."
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The Duke of Sussex first hinted at a feud in 2019 during an interview he gave during his and Meghan's tour of South Africa - just months before they sensationally quit as working royals. He famously told ITV's Tom Bradby back that he and Meghan were "struggling" with some of the pressures of life as working royals, with a bombshell moment revealing that their sibling bond was experiencing "good days" and "bad days".
But it worsened following the death of the late Queen after the accusations Harry publicly levelled at his brother in double tell-alls: his memoir, Spare, and his Netflix documentary. In his autobiography, released just months after Elizabeth II died, Harry accused William of physically attacking him and pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan.
William and Harry in 2016 (UK Press via Getty Images)Harry and Meghan, in their Netflix series two months after the Queen’s death, claimed Kensington Palace lied to protect William when it issued a statement denying a story he had bullied Harry out of the royal family. Harry also wrote of how Charles pleaded with his two sons during a tense meeting at Windsor just after the funeral of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, saying: “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery”.
According to the book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, after the interview was broadcast, William, the new Prince of Wales, tried to reach out to his younger brother. According to the book, Harry was initially said to be open to the offer - but turned him down after growing concerns that news of their rendezvous would be leaked by royal staff.
Author Valentine Low writes: "The day after the documentary aired, William WhatsApped his brother to ask if he could come and see him. Initially, Harry was in favour. Then he spoke to his brother again and asked him whom he would tell. William explained that he'd have to clear his schedule, which would mean telling his private secretary. At that point, Harry told him: Don't come. He was so concerned that William's team would leak the visit to the Press that he would rather not see his brother than risk it getting into the papers."
The book adds that the failure to meet face-to-face came as "heartbreaking" news to people close to both brothers and highlighted how some members of The Firm had come to find it difficult to communicate directly amid high levels of scrutiny. Relations between William and Harry have long been strained despite their closeness in their younger years. The fallout is said to have begun before Harry’s wedding to former Suits star, Meghan, with the duke accusing William of being snobbish to his bride.
When it came to marking the first anniversary of the late Queen's death, both brothers were in the UK as Harry made the trip across the Atlantic to his home in California to attend a charity awards ceremony. However, he did not meet up with William nor his father King Charles - and paid his respects to his grandmother alone at Windsor Castle while his two royal relatives were hundreds of miles away in Wales and Scotland respectively.