Prince William and Prince Harry's years-long feud might have been triggered by a simple childhood remark, claimed Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell.
The Duke of Sussex's feeling of being "the spare" and the sibling rivalry might have been amplified in their childhood, when William was noticeably favoured by their nanny, who opted to give special favours to the future King.
Burrell recalled a significant moment in Channel 5's documentary titled The Palace: What the Royal Servants Saw, noting, "I heard one of the nannies say to William, 'I'm going to give you three sausages, William. You need to grow big and strong, because you're going to be king one day'."
The remark struck young Harry like a lightning as Burrell recalled, "Poor Harry's face across the table. I looked at him [and knew he was thinking], 'Why did you get three sausages and I got two?'"
Having started royal service as a Buckingham Palace footman at merely 18, before eventually serving Princess Diana for a decade, Burrell witnessed firsthand the inner workings between the brothers.
Sharing his observations, he added, "I met both William and Harry in their early 20s, at a polo match, and chatted to them, and you could see that Harry always felt he was in second place."
Despite his deep-seated feelings of bitterness, Harry allegedly possessed a delightful, relaxed nature, according to the princes' former royal protection officer, Ken Wharfe, who considered him the more accessible of the pair.Â
Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their senior working royal roles in 2020 and moved to the US, where they now live with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Since then, the rift between Harry and William has only widened, given the Sussexes' seemingly endless spate of allegations against the royal family.
In early September, Harry made a four-day trip to the UK, where he met his father, King Charles, face-to-face for the first time in 19 months, a surprising step towards the family reunion.
However, the brothers did not meet and William was not present for the private 55-minute tea session at Clarence House.
Despite the seemingly no contact between the siblings, the Prince of Wales mentioned Harry on the October 3 episode of The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy, as he discussed his children's future role in the monarchy.
Talking about Prince George's eventual role as king, William noted, "That is caveated with, I hope we donât go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in, and Iâll do everything I can to make sure we donât regress in that situation."
Prince William and Prince Harry last appeared together in public at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022.
