Prince Harry revealed that he thinks his late mother Princess Diana would be “heartbroken” over his strained relationship with his older brother Prince William.
The 38-year-old royal spoke about his sibling during an interview with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan on Monday 9 January to promote his new memoir, Spare, which is said to include shocking allegations about his family.
When asked how he thinks Diana, who famously died in a car crash in 1997, would feel about her two sons’ current relationship with one another, Harry explained just how “sad” she would be.
“I think she’d be looking at it long term, to know there are certain things we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship,” he said. “I think she would be heartbroken that it’s ended up where it’s ended up.”
He also noted how devastated Diana would be about William’s office allowing British tabloids to pit her children against each other, particularly after the brothers promised that this wouldn’t happen.
“She would be heartbroken about the fact that William, his office, were a part of these stories,” he said. “And William and I made a pact, made a deal, that no matter what, we would never let our offices fight against each other.”
When Strahan asked if William broke this pact, Harry responded: “Yes, the people he employed broke that pact.”
The GMA host also asked Harry if he “has any responsibility in the breakdown of [his] relationship” with William, to which Harry replied: “Without question.” However, the Duke of Sussex also said he has tried to reconcile with both the Prince of Wales and their father, King Charles.
“But what people don’t know is the efforts I’ve gone to to resolve this, privately,” he continued. “Both with my brother and my father.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Strahan noted that Harry refers to William as both his “beloved brother” and “arch-nemesis” in the book. In response, the duke further explained why their relationship has been so complex and how the media jumped on that.
“There has always been this competition between us, weirdly. Again, I think it’s really played by the heir, spare,” he said, referring to how William is next in line for the British throne, as he’s the firstborn . “And the British press’ part in that. They pitch the Waleses, which Kate [Middleton] and William are now, against the Sussexes, me and my wife [Meghan Markle]. They always pitched us against each other. They pitch Kate and Meghan against each other.”
When asked if he thought this then made the two women “go against each other”, Harry said “without question”.
