Prince William 'loathed' Princess Diana's act for him and brother Harry

01 January 2024 , 23:00

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Prince Harry and Prince William in 2018 (Image: Getty Images)

While Prince William has taken remarkably well to his position as future king, there's one element of being a royal child he didn't take kindly to – and no, it's not just having to live his life in public.

As children, William and Harry were regularly snapped by photographers out and about with Princess Diana, whose renowned personal style was replicated in the young princes' outfits. But according to Prince Harry, his older brother was not as much of a fan of their matching attire as the public.

Writing in his memoir Spare, Harry claims his big brother suffered from a severe case of the embarrassed older brother syndrome as youngsters. Whilst attending a prestigious public school Eton, the now Prince of Wales once instructed his little brother to pretend they didn't know one another.

“For the last two years, he explained, Eton had been his sanctuary,“ Harry writes. “No kid brother tagging along, pestering him with questions, pushing up on his social circle. He was forging his own life, and he wasn’t willing to give it up.”

But for the distant older brother, who may have struggled to convince others the two weren't related given their public personas already at a young age, his reaction was unsurprising. Harry claims William “loathed it” when Diana would dress them in the same outfits as children, or when “anyone made the mistake of thinking us a package deal”.

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Prince William's embarrassment at being papped in public wearing twinned outfits with his brother may have been taken with him to fatherhood, now with two sons of his own. With the exception of their school uniforms, Princes George and Louis are rarely seen in public wearing the same outfits.

Princess Kate's impeccable sense of style may mean the three royal children are always well dressed, but George and Louis are often seen in slightly different attire. The one few times the two princes were seen in the same outfits was at this year's Trooping the Colour, where both were pictured in smart suits and red ties.

Susie Beever