Inside Prince William and Prince Harry’s Complicated Relationship Over the Years

Prince William and Prince Harry may be royalty, but their sibling bond is like that of any set of brothers.

“Their relationship is incredibly intimate,” Princess Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton revealed in the November 2019 edition of Royals Monthly. “Nobody apart from each other knows exactly — not even their father — what’s gone on in their heads and their hearts for the last 20-odd years. They both experienced the loss of their mother. The only people that they could trust to talk about it in a candid way was each of them.”

William and Harry were 15 and 12 years old, respectively, when Diana died in a car accident in 1997.

As time went on, however, the brothers began to distance themselves from each other. News broke in January 2020 that Harry and Meghan were stepping back from their senior royal duties, a decision that was made permanent in February 2021. The couple opened up about their choice for the first time in March 2021 during a tell-all interview on CBS.

“I was trapped but I didn't know I was trapped,” Harry said. “Trapped within the system like the rest of the family. My father [King Charles III] and my brother are trapped. They don't get to leave and I have huge compassion for that.”

In addition to confirming he and William were still struggling, Harry noted that he wasn’t on great terms with his dad.

"There is a lot to work through there," Harry, who noted his family didn't denounce the racism directed at Meghan over the years, said. "I feel really let down because he's been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like. I will always love him, but there is a lot of hurt that's happened. I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try to heal that relationship. But they only know what they know."

Scroll through for a timeline of their relationship: