Prince Harry's heartbreaking two-word message to William over 'constant battles'

06 August 2023 , 11:05

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Prince William and Prince Harry in July 2021 (Image: Getty Images)

Prince Harry once told Prince William not to visit him for fear of leaks to the press, a new book has revealed.

Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior working members of the Royal Family in 2020, moving to California for personal and financial freedom. The decision came after Harry and Meghan's poignant TV interview with friend and ITV journalist Tom Bradby, in which Meghan spoke of the effects of being scrutinised as part of being in the public eye as a member of the royal family.

The relationship between the brothers has appeared to have broken down since the Sussex's stepped down as senior royals. At one point, William messaged his brother the day after the Netflix documentary aired to ask if he could come and see him, to which Harry replied: "Don’t come".

Writing in his new book, Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, journalist Valentine Low said: "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... To everyone who knew what was going on, this was heartbreaking."

The author said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in a "fragile place" after the ITV interview aired in October 2019. Less than three months later, they publicly confirmed their plans to move to the US.

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The book features a report from a royal staff member, who described Harry's "constant battles" with the media. The staff member told Mr Low: "There were constant battles with the media, and expecting the team to be on your side.

"That was a big part of the relationship with the office, the battles he was fighting all the time. He was always on Twitter. You then had to be on everything, too. Every minor infraction was a big deal."

Harry was also critical of the press in his memoirs Spare, published in January this year. Prior to the book's publication and the release of his Netflix docuseries, Harry's friend and journalist Omid Scobie told Yahoo News UK: "The reality of both projects will actually see their harshest aims taken at the British press. Hardly a surprise given the role sections of the media have played throughout his life and relationships."

The couple are reportedly set to produce a new film for Netflix based on a novel that has some eerie parallels between the Prince and the death of his mother, the late Lady Diana Spencer.

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