Prince Harry feared he would be come 'irrelevant' when Prince George turns 18, a source has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex believed he had only a limited time to make a difference until his nephew, who is now second-in-line to the throne, became older.
A source said in Valentine Low's new book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, as quoted in an excerpt published by The Times : "He had this thing that he had a shelf life. He was fixated [on] this.
"He would compare himself with his uncle [Prince Andrew]. He would say, 'I have this time to make this impact. Because I can'.
"Until George turns 18, was the way he was thinking about it. ‘Then I will be the also-ran.’ He was genuinely thinking of it as, ‘I have this platform now, for a limited amount of time. I want to move forward, move forward.’ ”
According to the same source, Harry's staff assured him he was a very different person to his uncle Prince Andrew.
The extract reads: "They told him, 'You can still have an impact in your forties, fifties, even longer. So long as you set the right foundations now.' But he never saw that."
The Duke of Sussex has been approached for comment.
Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown by Valentine Low is due to be published by Headline Books on October 6.
It follows speculation over whether Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, might be brought back into the fold of the Royal Family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have remained largely distanced from senior members of the firm since they stepped back from royal duties in 2020.
But with publisher Random House set to publish a memoir with an intimate account of Harry's life, which is co-written by him, it remains to be seen what the fallout could be.
