From shoulder-to-shoulder mourning in 1997 to the fallout after “Megxit,” an Oprah interview, a tell-all memoir and multiple public schisms, the story behind Prince Harry and Prince William’s strained relationship has unfolded in high-profile stages—most recen
LONDON — When Prince William and Prince Harry used to be seen as a single unit, it wasn’t just tradition. It was habit: walking together behind Princess Diana’s coffin at ages 15 and 12 in 1997, then later sharing the spotlight through major events, sporting matches and even ski trips as boys.
For years, that closeness felt unbreakable. In the last four years, however, the picture has changed. The two estranged princes—now fathers and husbands—have only seen one another a handful of times. and Harry’s anticipated return to the UK this week has brought renewed attention to a rift that has played out in public for several years.
Here’s the timeline of how it unraveled.
In 2018, the “fab four” takes shape—and so does the foundation for the split
After Prince Harry met and married Meghan Markle—proposing to her in November 2017 and marrying her in 2018 at a lavish Windsor ceremony—Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship became the central trio’s new center of gravity. Charles. then prince. escorted Meghan down the aisle amid tensions with her father. Thomas Markle. who was also in poor health at the time.
The group of William. Harry and Kate became what British tabloids dubbed “the fab four. ” and the partners formed their own charity. “The Royal Foundation.” The trio also showed up together for high-profile public moments that year. including Trooping the Colour in June—marking Queen Elizabeth II’s official 92nd birthday—appearing together on the Buckingham Palace balcony in a month that also marked the centenary of the Royal Air Force. and attending the traditional royal Christmas church service at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk in December.
On the surface, they were closer than ever.
By 2019, cracks appear—and Harry describes drifting apart
In June 2019, Meghan and Harry split from “The Royal Foundation,” the joint charity they shared with William and Kate, saying they would launch their own charitable foundation.
The “fab four” label began to collapse fast. British media reports frequently framed the royal women against one another, including claims of clashes over plans for Harry and Meghan’s wedding and growing animosity between the two households.
In an interview with Britain’s ITV News in October 2019, Harry said: “Very quickly it became Meghan vs. Kate.” He also acknowledged that he and William had drifted apart, were not seeing each other very often and were “certainly on different paths.”
He added: “As brothers you have good days, you have bad days,” and noted that the “majority of stuff” written about their relationship is “created out of nothing.”
In 2020, the split becomes a public rupture—“Megxit” and the fight for independence
The break widened at the start of 2020. In January, Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping back from their roles as senior royals. They cited a plan to become “financially independent” and to split their time between Britain and North America.
The move stunned Britain and, according to reporting at the time, reportedly blindsided then-reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth. The Daily Mirror published a front page reading: “They didn’t even tell the queen.” The decision was quickly dubbed “Megxit. ” a play on Brexit and another polarizing moment in British history.
Queen Elizabeth issued a statement in response: “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.” She said. “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family. we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life.”.
In March 2020, Harry and Meghan carried out their final royal engagement alongside William and Kate before heading to Canada and then California to begin a new life. The palace agreed to a 12-month review of the decision to see whether “some common ground could be reached.” It could not.
In 2021, the divorce of the royals deepens—patronage loss and the Oprah interview
In February 2021, a month before Harry and Meghan sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a tell-all interview, Buckingham Palace announced the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would lose their last royal patronages and honorary military titles.
The palace said: “While all are saddened by their decision” not to come home and return to royal duties, “they remain much loved members of the family.”
In March. CBS aired a 90-minute interview with Harry and Meghan. in which they alleged racism within the royal family and described indifference to Meghan’s suicidal pleas for help. They said a royal family member expressed “concern” when Meghan—who is biracial—was pregnant about how dark their son’s skin color might be.
They did not name the family member in the interview, but later confirmed it was not the Queen or her husband, Prince Philip.
Meghan also pushed back on reports that, ahead of her wedding to Harry, she made Princess Kate cry. She told Oprah: “She made me cry. It hurt my feelings,” explaining that the issue was flower girl dresses.
Harry said he was cut off from his family’s money in the first quarter of 2020, and that it was his inheritance from Diana that helped him build a new life across the pond. He said he felt let down by his father’s handling of the situation.
The interview sent British tabloids into a frenzy. The Daily Mail ran “WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?” and its claims prompted William to defend the family, telling a reporter: “We’re very much not a racist family.”
In 2022, grief looks like unity—until the moment the brothers part
Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022, and Britain marked the summer of her 70-year reign. Meghan, Harry and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, flew to the UK to join the celebrations.
The family did not return to Harry’s home country together since then.
Harry and Meghan attended the queen’s funeral under intense tabloid scrutiny. The brothers, united in grief, walked shoulder-to-shoulder behind the late monarch’s coffin and sat together with their wives during the service. Harry, described as a non-working royal, did not wear a military uniform.
Some interpreted the close moments—walking behind their grandmother’s coffin together—as a sign of possible unity. But later. Harry told Anderson Cooper that when the royals raced to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to be with the queen in her final moments. he felt abandoned by his brother. who did not offer him a seat on the plane.
By the time Harry reached Balmoral on his own, his grandmother was already dead.
In 2023, “Spare” puts the confrontation on paper—allegations and fresh distance
Harry released his 2023 autobiography, “Spare,” and did not hold back. He accused William of assaulting him during an argument over Meghan in 2019.
In the book, Harry wrote: “It all happened so fast. So very fast,” describing the moment he said his brother grabbed him by the collar, “ripping my necklace,” and knocked him to the floor.
The memoir also detailed that Harry and William were not actually each other’s best men at their weddings and that the rift had been simmering since their school days. Harry wrote that he and William had begged their father not to marry Camilla. and said Charles joked he wasn’t Harry’s “real father.”.
Harry also said his father pleaded with him and William in 2020: “Please, boys – don’t make my final years a misery.”
At the May 2023 coronation of King Charles, Harry attended without his wife or children. Inside the ceremony at London’s Westminster Abbey, he sat two rows behind his brother. It was the first time Harry was seen publicly with members of the royal family since the release of “Spare.”
In 2025, a meeting at Clarence House suggests a possible thaw
In September 2025, Harry and his father held their first face-to-face meeting in over a year at Clarence House in London, where the king and queen live. The meeting lasted less than an hour and was widely viewed as a possible first step toward ending a much-publicized rift.
Harry last saw his father in February 2024, shortly after it was announced that the monarch was undergoing treatment for cancer, though the palace never specified the type.
In “Spare,” Harry reflected that Charles “wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances,” and he also described a tense confrontation with Charles and William at the funeral of Prince Philip.
In recent years, Harry has expressed hope for a family reconciliation.
The sequence of how the relationship deteriorated is stark on paper: a shared charity and major ceremonial appearances in 2018. division from “The Royal Foundation” in 2019. a break from royal roles in January 2020 followed by a 12-month review that “could not” reconcile the differences. loss of patronages in early 2021. the Oprah interview’s allegations in March 2021. grief that still didn’t translate into the final moments at Balmoral in 2022. and then “Spare” in 2023—before the first face-to-face meeting between Harry and King Charles in over a year in September.
Where the situation stands now
With Harry’s return to the UK this week, the last public signal came in September 2025, when he met King Charles at Clarence House for less than an hour—close enough to suggest a thaw, but brief enough to leave doubt about how far reconciliation can go.
For William and Harry, the distance has not been theoretical. It has been counted in years, in meetings that rarely happen, in the way they’ve appeared—or not appeared—together, and in the moments when private conflict spilled into the public record.
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