During Prince William’s interview with Eugene Levy on The Reluctant Traveler, the Scooter King actually said his brother’s name. William was referencing the craziness of the British press during his childhood with his parents’ divorce and he said, “I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure we don’t regress in that situation.” We’ve been told for years that William doesn’t like to talk about Harry, or that William is constantly raging about Harry. I wasn’t expecting such a casual reference, or an acknowledgement that what happened in the 1980s and ‘90s f–ked up both brothers, not just William. Well, what does People Magazine say about this big moment where William said his brother’s name?
Prince William opened up like never before in a rare TV appearance that included an unexpected reference to Prince Harry. The Prince of Wales, 43, notably mentioned his brother, with whom he remains estranged, in a brief reference during his wide-ranging conversation with Eugene Levy, host of Apple TV+’s The Reluctant Traveler. The Oct. 3 episode doubled as a reintroduction for the heir to throne after years of headlines surrounding family rifts and the fallout from the departure of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s from the royal fold.
In a callback to the media frenzy that surrounded their childhood, Prince William told Levy, “I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure we don’t regress in that situation.”
That he never again references his brother — or sister-in-law — speaks volumes.
“They are clearly part of the past,” historian Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers, tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story. “He talked about his brother in the past, as part of his life — not in the future.”
Still, The Reluctant Traveler host Eugene Levy says nothing was off-limits when he met Prince William in Windsor — includingHarry and Meghan.
“I was not told I couldn’t ask anything,” he told reporters. “But I had no interest in asking… It’s a very delicate issue.”
However, royal biographer Andrew Morton, author of Winston and the Windsors, says: “If you want the prince to talk openly, you avoid asking about his brother.”
Still, William’s willingness to reflect so personally marks a striking break from the royal family’s old way of operating — by “ostriching,” as royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith put its, “avoiding discussions of emotional problems in hopes that they would go away.”
“They are clearly part of the past” – yeah, we heard that in September, when the Scooter King seemingly had a full nervous breakdown over Harry’s visit. That was when William’s behavior was apparently so concerning, royal sources were speaking about it openly, how he was barely keeping it together and how he prefers to act as if Harry is long gone and never coming back. All of the reporting around William in the days and weeks around Harry’s visit indicated that William *needs* to tell himself that Harry is an “unperson” or that Harry is dead/gone, just to get through the day, just to function. There’s always talk about how William “already mourned his brother.” The whole thing is just… unhealthy and unsettling. It shows you how William is being manipulated by the institution as well – the people around William don’t want him to have a healthy, functioning relationship with Harry.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, AppleTV+.
