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A.N. Wilson: Why it's in EVERYONE's interests for William to be the bigger man - and bring Harry back into the royal fold
Isn't it time for the royal feud to end? When Prince Harry arrived at a Norfolk parish church last week, for the memorial service for his uncle by marriage, Robert Fellowes, many of those present probably prayed that there would be a reconciliation between him and Prince William.
In fact, William left the Snettisham church without exchanging so much as a syllable with his estranged younger brother.
He appears adamant that Harry is the black sheep of the family, for whom there can be no forgiveness. This is both deeply sad and worrying.
The longer the feud continues, the deeper and wider the chasm will get.
There are rumours that William has said he will not even invite his brother to his Coronation, when that day dawns.
As The Mail on Sunday reveals today, Harry has begun making overtures to investigate ways of ending his exile
This would be calamitous for countless reasons. Indeed, there are very wide ramifications.
Many have spent years vilifying Meghan for refusing to speak to her poor, clumsy old dad, who made a donkey of himself before her wedding by posing for paparazzi pictures.
William’s refusal to speak to his brother risks appearing just as petty. If William allows the feud to fester it will dominate every public occasion in which he takes part. At family funerals. At ceremonies of national importance.
Instead of public attention being focused on the ceremony, people will understandably be thinking of ‘The Feud’ – second-guessing body language between the pair, poring over what few – if any – words and glances are exchanged.
Do we really want this? Is it not the Prince of Wales’s duty to come to forgive? Or at least behave as if he has forgiven.
It was a wise man who wrote ‘I kiss my son not because I love him, but in order to love him’. For ‘son’ read ‘brother’.
There is something deeply unseemly about any family having a row in public. When it is the Royal Family, it poisons the air and undermines the very institution of the monarchy.
The indications are that King Charles, especially in the light of his cancer, has been receiving spiritual advice from friends such as Richard Chartres, the former Bishop of London, urging him to build bridges with his younger son.
Obviously, Charles would like to meet and befriend his American grandchildren.
In his memoir 2023 Spare, Prince Harry claimed that his brother William had been violent
He should not have to feel anxious that he might leave this world before making peace with his ‘darling boy’ Harry.
For his part, as The Mail on Sunday reveals today, Harry has begun making overtures to investigate ways of ending his exile. Prince William appears to be the one standing in the way of this. Surely, he has a duty to his father – if not his brother – to aid, not obstruct, such a rapprochement?
The reasons for the rift are obvious.
Harry wrote – or rather, dictated to a clever ghost-writer – his deeply hurtful memoir Spare in which he claimed that his brother William had been violent.
Intolerable things were said about William’s wife, Catherine, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Harry and Meghan even told the world, via the Oprah Winfrey show, that the Royal Family was racist, a slur which is deeply unfair – for the King, with such ventures as The Prince’s Trust, has done more to bring the people of this country together, regardless of colour or creed, than any public figure.
It is no wonder that William remains aggrieved and angry.
But as our future king, he needs to appear magnanimous, not mean-spirited. He should recall the example of the late Queen, his grandmother, who put duty before personal feelings.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex last month went on a quasi-royal tour of Colombia
As an olive branch to his family, Harry has made it clear that there will not be a sequel to Spare
In 2012, she famously shook the hand of former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, despite the murder of Prince Philip’s beloved uncle, Lord Mountbatten, by the IRA, in the interests of peace and reconciliation.
Surely William could shake his brother’s hand if it is proffered? And there are hopeful signs that Harry is beginning to extend his hand.
As an olive branch to his furious family, he has made it clear that – to his publishers’ disappointment – there will not be a sequel to Spare, nor will he be updating the paperback edition with any more venomous barbs.
There are even indications that Harry is prepared to drop his case against the Home Office about his ‘inadequate’ security arrangements. And he and Meghan are both hinting, via ‘friends’ and ‘sources’, that they are prepared to give up giving embarrassing interviews with TV and newspapers. The squabbles concerning Meghan and the Royal Household already increasingly look trivial – whether she did or did not throw tantrums, whether they were reducing her to a nervous wreck. She, and they, have surely moved on.
Another hopeful sign: Harry and Meghan went to Colombia recently and many critics prepared to denounce whatever ill-thought-out statement they believed the couple would inevitably venture. In fact, they behaved with positively royal decorum and discretion.
Then, it was said that Meghan might embarrass the Foreign Office and the Royal Family by attending the Democratic Convention in Chicago. But she didn’t go.
Instead, she has hinted that she will, in future, limit her public appearances to promoting the work of her clothes designer friends.
Is there a strategy behind Meghan’s new-found reticence? Why would a woman previously so keen on political posturing suddenly be keeping schtum?
Perhaps Harry and Meghan have realised, belatedly, which side their bread is buttered on.
After their efforts to build a media empire fizzled out, boiling down to little more than a few pots of Meghan’s ‘home-made’ jam, have they now grasped that, without the House of Windsor, they have little social and political currency?
Is that why Harry has recently renewed contact with some of his UK-based friends over WhatsApp?
His 40th birthday celebrations in two weeks would be the ideal opportunity to rebuild bridges with lost allies.
Here’s hoping that happens.
Both Harry and his brother are stubborn, but the longer the estrangement continues, the more it seems like William is the one holding his grudge tighter.
Someone must step in to help him change his mind.
Maybe a younger member of the Royal Family – one of Princess Anne’s children; maybe one of his friends; maybe his wife – or maybe all of them should implore him to have a change of heart.
Whoever dares to confront William about this, should surely be brave enough to ask: ‘What do you think your mother would want?’
Both princes will recall a childhood beset by book deals and TV interviews in which their parents aired their grievances with each other. Surely they don’t want their ugly feud in front of the world to consume their families any longer?
It is in everyone’s interests for William to bring Harry back into the fold.