Prince William's rift with his brother Harry is a “constant strain” on him, a royal expert has said.
Prince Harry 's move to the US in 2020 has been surrounded by reports of a “rift” between two once-close brothers.
Royal expert Duncan Larcombe has now said the pair miss each other, and both feel "a lot of regret" over their changed relationship.
He told OK! : "It’s very clear to those that know William that the rift with his brother is not something that he can just forget about.
"It's very much, as you can imagine, a constant strain. It is for Harry as well, they’re both as stubborn as mules.
"That’s not great when two best friends and brothers fall out. If anybody knows what it’s like to fall out with a best friend or a brother who was close to you when you were growing up, it’s not nice. You miss them."
He went on to add: "There is a lot of regret there and I think it’s on both sides."
Much has been made of the rift between the two brothers, which was reportedly sparked by William's concerns over Harry's fast-developing relationship with Meghan Markle ahead of their royal wedding in 2018.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, Harry claimed William was "trapped" within the royal system, which reportedly left William furious.
Since Harry and Meghan quit as senior royals and moved to the US last year, Harry has only seen his brother twice - at the funeral of Prince Philip and at the unveiling of a statue of their mother Princess Diana.
Previously, whilst still a working royal, Prince Harry said that he and his brother had had "bad days" when speaking to ITV News.
But Harry added : “Part of this role and part of this job and this family being under the pressure that it’s under inevitably, you know, stuff happens.
“But look, we’re brothers. We’ll always be brothers."
As Harry now tries to ply his way in America, William has continued his royal duties as future king.
Duncan added: "Everything else seems to be going right for William at this time, he’s riding the crest of a wave in most aspects of his life, but sadly he has the absence of Prince Harry, his brother in his life.
"William’s always had a set plan of where he wants to be in five years, how he’s going to transition from prince to husband to father to future king.
"He’s basically ticked all of those boxes that he set out to tick when he was graduating from university but the one thing not going right for him is something that is deeply upsetting."
Despite all of that, Duncan said that he remained hopeful the brothers would find a way to be able to repair their fraught relationship.
He added that after they lost their mother, and all they went through together bereaving her loss, they were immensely close.
He added: "These are brothers that glued together as they lost their mother, they went through that bereavement and as is quite clear they dealt with it in different ways but they were very close.
"Every week the rift continues, Harry and William are the two people who are missing out the most."
