Royal experts have claimed that when Prince Harry made a particularly explosive move with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, his elder brother Prince William felt like he was “grieving”
Prince William ‘grieved’ for Harry after shock move(Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
When Prince Harry and Meghan announced they would be stepping back as working royals, the country was left stunned by the news. For the couple, things in the royal spotlight had become unmanageable, and they sent out a shock statement revealing that they wanted to give up being full-time royals.
Initially, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had hoped to continue representing the monarchy, but on a part-time basis, relinquishing the public funding they received as full-time working royals, and instead becoming free to make their own money.
Rapidly, a crisis meeting was called, with the senior royals gathered by the late Queen Elizabeth as what is now known as the ‘Sandringham Summit’ – which saw King Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry, the late Queen, and her private secretary meet to discuss the Sussex family’s future.
A new documentary on Channel 5 – Megxit: Inside The Sandringham Summit – dives into exactly what went on behind closed doors at the high-stakes discussion, with experts and commentators providing new insight into the meeting that would come to determine a total split of the couple from the institution of the monarchy.
One royal expert revealed in the documentary that after the discussions were completed, Prince William was left “completely broken” and devastated at the loss of his brother.
Royal expert Charlotte Griffiths explained, “William must have felt such a sense of relief, but also great sadness because he was really, officially losing his brother.
“What I heard at the time was that William started grieving for his brother at that point, really grieving, like he’d lost, not only his mother, years ago, but his brother as well and I think he was just genuinely quite sad, and completely broken”.
There was one notable absence from the Sandringham Summit, however, with Meghan back in Canada, unable to join the meeting remotely – Harry had been left to face his family, and fight for what he wanted, solo.
In the end, Harry even lost his police security – something he said in his memoir Spare he was desperate to keep and has tried and failed for years to have returned to him when he is visiting the UK.
After the meeting, which saw the royals go for the “nuclear” option of a total break, Harry and William retreated to the gardens of Sandringham to spend some time together by themselves, the experts explain the documentary.
“Harry expected to be treated by a harangue from his brother,” said royal author Andrew Morton, but in fact, “Harry got the chance to do what he wanted to do, which was explain himself to his brother,” revealed another expert, Jack Royston – royal correspondent at Newsweek – “and say this is why I’m doing what I’m doing.
“William didn’t argue back, he listened,” the expert continued, “I think it was important for Harry to feel like he had a chance to say his piece, and it was important for William to come away from it feeling like he didn’t turn it into a big argument or shut it down.”
Relations between William and Harry are well known to be icy, with the brother pretty much estranged over recent years.
Whilst William might have felt grief that his brother was leaving life in the Firm behind in 2020, the following year when Meghan and Harry sat down for their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, during which they detailed their reasons for leaving the UK – things went from bad to worse.
In Harry and Meghan’s self-titled documentary series for Netflix, the moment in which Harry receives a text message from his brother in the aftermath of the interview was captured, and whilst the couple didn’t show what the message said, Harry looked close to tears after reading it.
The Sussexes have not been shy when it comes to opening up about their grievances with the Royal Family – with Harry even sitting down with the BBC after losing the latest appeal over his police security and admitting that his father King Charles “won’t speak” to him and that he “doesn’t know how long” the monarch has left.
Whilst Harry expressed his desire for reconciliation with his family, royal expert Jennie Bond told Sky News she “doesn’t know where he goes from here”.
“He’s bristling with anger and resentment and mistrust of the royal household, and despair over his father’s attitude, I suppose. It’s just such a sad and sorry saga. I would hope there might be some kind of reconciliation but although Harry says he wants reconciliation, he doesn’t think he can do that now.”
