Prince Harry refused to meet with William to discuss the Sussexes’ poor relationship with the other royals because he was “concerned” that the attempt at bridge building would be leaked to the press, it is claimed by a royal author.
The new Prince of Wales allegedly realised the level of Meghan and Harry’s unhappiness when he saw the comments they made in the ITV documentary ‘Harry & Meghan: An African Journey', which was broadcast in October, 2019.
It was then that he tried to arrange a meeting with Harry, claimed Valentine Low in his new book ‘Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown’.
But Harry is believed to have finally turned down the approach after considering it and then a few months later the Sussexes moved abroad, citing a lack of support from the Royal Family.
William realised that Meghan and Harry “were in crisis” on seeing the documentary, Mr Low claimed in the book.
“The day after the documentary was broadcast, William whatsapped his brother to ask if he could come and see him. This put Harry and Meghan into a spin,” he wrote, reported The Times.
And Harry at first agreed to a meeting but asked who would know about it, to which William said his private secretary in order to clear the time in his diary, it is alleged.
“At that point, Harry said don’t come. He was so concerned that William’s team would leak the visit to the press that he would rather they did not come than risk it getting into the papers,” says the book.
In the ITV documentary Meghan had said “thank you for asking” when she was approached about the problems she was going through, adding: “because not many people have asked if I am okay.”
Harry also said that he and his brother were “certainly on different paths at the moment”.
The rift between Harry and other royals has regularly hit the headlines since the Sussexes moved to the United States more than two years ago and have been critical about their life in the UK during interviews with American media.
In an explosive interview last year with Oprah Winfrey, Harry alleged he had to break the cycle and leave the Royal Family while Meghan alleged racism, claiming a royal had questioned what colour skin her future child would have.
And it was only coincidence that Harry was in the UK when the Queen died as he was here for charity work.
Yet still it is reported that while he was staying at Windsor there were no plans for the brothers to meet and Harry flew up separately from other royals to Balmoral on hearing that the Queen was gravely ill.