Prince Harry and brother Prince William’s relationship has been strained for years, but one comment about William’s wife, Princess Kate Middleton, struck a nerve more than others, according to author Robert Hardman.
“Clearly it bit deep, both the remarks in the Netflix six-parter with Harry and Meghan [Markle], but also in Harry’s book, Spare,” Hardman, author of 2024’s The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, January 24. “Casting any sort of doubt, I think, on your brother’s choice of wife is clearly asking for trouble.”
In his biography, Hardman wrote, “On top of all the other breaches of trust, here was Harry making a blatant attack on Catherine. For William, this was the lowest of the low.” Hardman is referring to a comment Harry, 39, made in Harry & Meghan, in which the prince said men in his family face a “temptation or an urge to marry someone who [they are] perhaps destined to be with” in (The comment was reportedly inferred by several members of the Firm to be about William, 41, and Kate, 42.)
Hardman added on Tuesday that Harry has continually said he’s “waiting for an apology,” but noted that it’s “a two-way process.” Hardman said “you’d have to ask [William] if it’s unforgivable.”
“Harry and Meghan have very understandable grievances about royal life, about the way they feel they were treated, both by the institution, by Britain, by the press,” Hardman told Us. “I get all that, but at a personal level, I think there’s a lot of issues that didn’t need to be put out there that Harry has put out and that’s going to take time to work through.”
Harry also detailed his and Meghan’s estranged relationship with William and Kate in his 2023 book, Spare. He alleged that Kate and Meghan, 42, were “forced to compete” with each other and that Kate made Meghan cry over bridesmaids dresses ahead of her 2018 wedding.
Adding to the brothers’ tension, a Dutch translation of Omid Scobie’s Endgame recently listed Kate as one of the royals who reportedly questioned the skin tone of Harry and Meghan’s son Archie, 4. Kate was “saddened” by the allegations, a source exclusively told Us.
“This has closed the door on any reconciliation with Meghan as far as Kate is concerned,” the source said. “She has had enough of Meghan’s antics and wants absolutely nothing to do with her. She will never make up with her.”
Scobie, for his part, denied including names in Endgame, telling ITV’s This Morning in November 2023, “I never submitted a book that had those names in it.” He added that he’s “frustrated as everyone else” about the controversy.
The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy is available now.
