PRINCE William was “envious” of Prince Harry growing up due to him being “so popular”, according to a royal expert. 

Former royal bodyguard Ken Wharfe spoke on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show about working with the now-feuding royal brothers when they were children.

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A former royal bodyguard has opened up about how Prince William and Prince Harry were close growing upCredit: AFP

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Ken Wharfe claims Prince William was ‘envious’ of how popular Prince Harry wasCredit: Getty
The former Met cop looked after the young royal family from 1986 until 1993 before Princess Diana’s tragic death four years later.

Ken shared that despite the brothers’ recent fallouts over Megxit, Harry’s bombshell Spare claims and his tell-all Oprah Winfrey chat, the boys were close as kids.

He claimed: “It was a very happy union. It was a very happy family.

“What I will say is Diana and her husband [the then-Prince Charles] at that time were going through a very difficult period of their life.

“But both of them didn’t want their situation to be known by the children.

“They had a blissful happy life at that point.”

Ken added that Prince William was slightly jealous of Prince Harry’s fun-loving personality.

He continued: “Harry was always the joker, the entertainer.

“But he was the entertainer, you could almost say he was the court jester at that time.

“So in that sense I think William found it slightly different, but they were funny.

“What I liked about Diana, what I liked about the Prince himself, is the way they educated their children.

“Albeit in rather extreme privileged circumstances, they had a very good upbringing in that sense.

“Diana was very careful and insisted they had a normal life.”

I suppose it would be quite common for the sort of sibling rivalry that was, for the eldest William to be slightly nervous or envious of Harry because he was so popular

Ken WharfeFormer Royal Bodyguard

Ken shared how he thinks the tension between William and Harry’s relationship came as adults.

He revealed: “I think this breakup of sibling relationship, I think this all began around the time of Harry’s marriage to Meghan, much later in life.

“Until that point, certainly up until the point of their mother’s death, they were very much at one.

“They entertained each other, they were very much involved with each other’s friends.

“Right through that early part of life, Harry was always the most popular.”

Your Prince Harry and Meghan Markle questions answered

The royal rift between the brothers was evident last month when Prince Harry jetted to the UK to see King Charles, following his cancer diagnosis.

Harry took a ten-and-a-half hour flight from his Montecito mansion in California to meet with his father in a 30 minute reunion, but didn’t visit William.

Years of attacks by Harry on Oprah, Netflix and in Spare — including branding Wills his “arch-nemesis” — are said to have cut William deep.

It was reported that Prince of Wales “remains focused” on looking after wife Kate, currently recovering from abdominal surgery.

Dad-of-three Wills is helping out as Kate takes extended leave from public duties until after Easter.

The Prince of Wales, 41, who is now carrying the weight of the royals on his shoulders as his father and wife are both ill, has never chosen to hit back.

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Ken shared how he thinks the tension between William and Harry’s relationship came as adultsCredit: Getty

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The former bodyguard claims tensions seemed apparent around the time of Harry’s marriage to MeghanCredit: Getty

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The former royal staff member insists the boys had a ‘blissful’ childhood, despite Diana and Charles’ marital strugglesCredit: AFP

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Ken claims Diana tried to keep the boys’ lives as ‘normal’ as possibleCredit: Getty Images – Getty

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Tensions are currently running high between Prince William and Prince HarryCredit: Getty