From where I sit, something really shifted on September 4th, which is when the Prince and Princess of Wales stepped out for an event at the Natural History Museum in London. Kate debuted a terrible blonde wig and she and William showed zero concern for the children they had shipped into the museum’s garden when it started raining really hard. The event was a complete disaster for Will and Kate, and the only reason they even stepped out then was because they were trying to be visible and working ahead of Prince Harry’s four-day visit. That rainy day was the beginning of the end – William and Kate looked absolutely pitiful as they tried to throw themselves in front of the cameras and distract from Harry’s visit last week. They still look pitiful, especially William. As predicted, William’s rage-briefings began as Harry’s visit to the UK came to a close. Everyone got a call, it was like the deranger Avengers assembling to act as stenographers to William’s incandescent BS. Katie Nicholl published her VF piece on Friday. Charlotte Griffiths got a major exclusive for the Mail on Sunday. And of course Roya Nikkhah at the Times dutifully reports whatever the Other Brother shrieks at her. Griffiths’ piece in the Mail was the big one though, and it really paints a picture of a spiteful, jealous and pitiful heir whose childish rage-attacks are worrying aides.
Prince William has ‘doubled down’ on his resolve to cut Prince Harry out of his life, in the wake of his brother’s Clarence House rapprochement with the King. It’s been exactly a year since the Sussexes launched ‘Operation Bring Harry Back In From The Cold’ – and while the Duke’s 12-month strategy has come to fruition with his father, he is no closer to contact with his brother.
Indeed, Harry’s success in the UK last week means the future King is burning with a renewed determination to rid the monarchy of the Sussexes for good.‘William is back at the point where if you mention Prince Harry in his presence he would throw you out of the room,’ one well-placed insider admitted. ‘He’s doubling down.’
The Princess of Wales agreed to attend a Women’s Institute meeting in Berkshire with her husband on Monday at the last minute, prompting some to suggest William hoped a glamorous appearance from his wife would blow Harry off the front pages. Harry countered the move with a £1.1million pledge to Children in Need – crass to cite the amount, perhaps, but effective. A day later, Harry met his father at Clarence House for the first time in 18 months. Harry’s breathless schedule during his week-long presence in the UK, followed by a trip to Kyiv, provided some healthy competition for William.
Charles may well welcome having Harry nipping at his brother’s heels, for it could prompt the Prince and Princess of Wales to ‘up their game’ by carrying out more of those small-scale events we saw last week – the type that they would prefer not to do but which are essential to the public’s perception of the monarchy. Without the future King and Queen doing the rounds, it falls to Charles to pick up most of the slack and it has been noted that, despite his battle with cancer, he carried out official engagements on 175 days during the past 12 months. Over the same period, Prince William clocked up 68 fewer engagements.
‘William is more determined than ever to cut Harry off altogether,’ adds the source. ‘It infuriates William that Harry has pulled off a 12-month “master plan” to re-ingratiate himself.’
The pair have long had a tempestuous relationship, not least in the run-up to ‘Megxit’ when, in 2019, the brothers came to blows in Nottingham Cottage, in the grounds of Kensington Palace, and Harry ended up shoved to the floor, cracking a dog bowl.
Palace aides are said to be anxious that William’s ‘doubling down’ mentality marks a setback for him personally.
‘For some time now William’s anger had cooled to the point of indifference over his brother, which was healthy for his mental wellbeing,’ adds another source. ‘William had got to the stage where Harry was a “non-person”, he had fallen so far beneath his radar as to have disappeared from his mind altogether. It can’t be good that William has gone back to the point where he would throw someone out at the very mention of Harry’s name.’
The phrase ‘non-person’ was coined by the Queen Mother to refer to people whose name cannot be mentioned by friends or aides in her presence – like that of her brother-in-law Edward VIII whose abdication forced her and her husband (who became George VI) to become King and Queen. With Harry a ‘non-person’, safely 5,000 miles away in California, people around William felt no need to bring up Harry’s name. All that was shattered by the appearance last week. The source added: ‘Now Harry is back – back in the UK, back at Clarence House, back in touch with his father and back into the subject line of emails.’
Another source said: ‘William originally went through all the stages of grief over his brother. When they first fell out he went to Balmoral and went off his food. Just before the Oprah chat screened, he wept. Then he turned to anger and when that stage was over, he simply compartmentalised it all and moved on. He never expected to be regularly in the same postcode as his brother again, like he was last week.’
Doesn’t it feel like the wheels are coming off? I can’t believe they’re saying some of this stuff openly. Last week became the point where this tabloid-and-palace-created image of “Angry Harry is sad and lonely” blew up in a million pieces. They can’t scream about how all of their emotional-support polls show that Harry is terribly unpopular, they can’t argue that Britain doesn’t want Harry back. British people were thrilled to see him, and his “tour” went spectacularly well. It reminded everyone of one of the biggest reasons why William and Kate did everything they could to push the Sussexes out and then copy/colonize everything they did, wore and said.
“Palace aides are said to be anxious that William’s ‘doubling down’ mentality marks a setback for him personally.” Um, it really sounds like William is in the middle of a full-blown nervous breakdown over being exposed as a boring, dull, unimaginative, uncharismatic rage monster. It also sounds like palace aides are really worried about how he’s incapable of keeping his sh-t together. And how f–king fragile is William that he can only keep going by pretending his brother is dead?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
