Prince Harry Felt Like a "Gooseberry" at Events With William & Kate

london, united kingdom july 10 embargoed for publication in uk newspapers until 24 hours after create date and time meghan, duchess of sussex, prince harry, duke of sussex, prince william, duke of cambridge and catherine, duchess of cambridge watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the royal air force from the balcony of buckingham palace on july 10, 2018 in london, england the 100th birthday of the raf, which was founded on on 1 april 1918, was marked with a centenary parade with the presentation of a new queen's colour and flypast of 100 aircraft over buckingham palace photo by max mumbyindigogetty images

(Image credit: Max Mumby/Indigo)

published 13 December 2022

In the early years of Prince William and Princess Kate's marriage, Prince Harry was often their "third wheel" on royal engagements.

While this arrangement worked for a while, and Harry was close with his brother and sister-in-law, he apparently said he felt like a "gooseberry" being made to trail behind them during events, according to sources who spoke to the Telegraph.

"They didn’t have proper disagreements [at the time]," a source explained.

You may like

"But there were philosophical differences in the way they went about things.

"William was more reserved about what you should say to the media, and worried about oversharing in the way that would put pressure on other people to do the same."

Apparently, the plan was for Prince Harry to work with the then-Cambridges until the death of Queen Elizabeth, at which point they would separate into two households, but another source called this idea "misguided."

"It puts too much pressure on their relationship," they said. "It’s not healthy."

The Telegraph's sources explained that William felt like a bit of a father figure for Harry, and was often on hand to give him advice.

But, one said, by the time Meghan Markle came into his life, "Harry was tired of the dynamic that had become established between him and his older brother."

One source added, "A lot of this predates Meghan. But it’s fair to say her arrival changed things."

Although the hope was that Meghan Markle would make the royal trio a royal quartet, it was "immediately clear that their styles were too different," an aide said.

That was when the Cambridge and Sussex households were separated.

"There was a divorce going on but the terms hadn’t been worked through," a source said.

"A lot of the talk behind the scenes was, 'we need to bring these brothers back together, they’re always better together.'

"They were still talking, but it was tense."

And then, of course, came the royal exit. At this point, the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry has appeared to deteriorate at rapid speed, despite occasional reports of an imminent reconciliation.

The rest is history... until Thursday's Netflix release adds pieces to the puzzle.

TOPICS

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.