Prince Harry Was Reportedly \201cIn Tears\201d When He Learned That King Charles Gave Prince William a Role That, Had Harry Remained a Working Member of the Royal Family, Would Have Likely Been Given to Him

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 9 May 2024

As Marie Claire reported yesterday, on the same day that Prince Harry arrived in the U.K. earlier this week, his father, King Charles, made Harry’s brother, Prince William, the leader of the regiment that Harry once served in—and new information is being reported that the move landed Harry in tears.

On Tuesday, the King announced that the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps—the regiment Harry served in during his service in Afghanistan—would officially be passed to William. “His Majesty the King will officially hand over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,” a statement from Buckingham Palace read. According to The Independent, had Harry not stepped back as a working member of the royal family (which he did alongside wife Meghan Markle in 2020), the role would have likely gone to Harry.

The timing of the announcement is iffy at best, and The Mirror reports that Harry got emotional and was “in tears” at hearing the news of William’s appointment given by Charles—no doubt exacerbated by Charles’ apparent refusal to make time for his younger son while Harry was in the U.K. this week.

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“King Charles’ announcement that Prince Harry is being stripped of his role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps is a real kick in the teeth for the son who always felt marginalized and underrated,” royal author Tom Quinn told The Mirror. “What makes it much worse is that the role is being given to the very man who Harry sees as the cause of so many of his problems—his brother. And the announcement was deliberately made during Harry’s brief visit to the U.K. to have maximum impact—it shows Harry that he really is no longer welcome.”

Quinn claimed that senior royals knew that the announcement would “really hurt” Harry: “He is said to have been in tears when he heard,” Quinn said. “But they have decided the gloves are off and that Harry needs to realize that when you betray the family, you don’t just escape the things you hated doing as a working royal. You also lose the things you loved.”

Prince William — William, seen here in 2009, was a helicopter pilot with the RAF's Search and Rescue Force.

William is expected to take over the role soon—on May 13, this upcoming Monday.

Harry remains extremely proud of his decade of service in the British Army, which included two tours in Afghanistan. Quinn added that “Harry feels his time in the military was a rare happy time in his life when he was judged on his merits as a man, not on his merits as a member of the royal family,” he said. “Having always hated being the spare in terms of the succession, he now finds that one of the few important roles he had as the younger brother has now been handed over to the person Harry himself described as his nemesis. Harry cannot fail to get the message—his last few ties to his old life are being cut, and he is being set adrift, permanently.”

Reports have surfaced from royal experts Hugo Vickers and Arthur Edwards that the King could have made time to see Harry this week had he really wanted to, and from Charlotte Griffiths that William (as well as Queen Camilla) likely played a factor in Charles’ ultimate decision not to see his younger son this week.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.