In the second volume of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duke of Sussex was not afraid to throw his brother Prince William under the bus to tell his story. In the fifth episode of the series, Harry recalled the specific moment things took a turn with his brother, unleashing their long-standing feud.
“There’s leaking, but there’s also planting, of sorts,” Harry began, explaining what goes on behind the headlines, per People. “So if the comms team want to be able to remove a negative story about their principal, they will trade and give you something about someone else’s principle. So the offices end up working against each other.”
Though that may be the status quo, Harry then added that him and William vowed to not go against each other after seeing what happened to their dad King Charles III and their mom Princess Diana. “William and I both saw what happened in our dad’s office, and we made an agreement that we would never let that happen to our office,” he recalled.
In January 2020, however, William allegedly went against his promise. “A story came out saying that part of the reason why Meg and I were leaving was because William had bullied us out,” Harry recalled, remembering the shocking The Times story. Harry then remembered, “Once I got in the car after the meeting, I was told about a joint statement that had been put out, in my name and my brother’s name, squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family.”
Though the statement appeared to be from the both of them, Harry never saw the statement, let alone agreed to publish it. “No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that,” he said. “I rang M and I told her and she burst into floods of tears because within four hours, they were happy to lie to protect my brother. And yet, for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.”
“We couldn’t believe it,” he added. “To see my brother’s office copy — the very same thing that we promised the two of us would never, ever do — that was heartbreaking.”
Harry then added that this moment permanently created a “wedge” between them. “Part of that, I get. That is his inheritance. To some extent that is already engrained in him, that part of his responsibility is the survivability and continuation of this institution.”
Though the royal felt compassion for William, the entire moment became a major turning point for him and Markle. “Suddenly, what clicked in my head was, ‘It’s never gonna stop,’ ” Markle said. “Every rumor, every negative thing, every lie, everything that I knew wasn’t true and that the palace knew wasn’t true and internally they knew wasn’t true, that was just being allowed to fester.”
“So there was no other option at this point,” Harry added. “I said, ‘We need to get out of here.’ “
And indeed they did! Now, years after the incident, they seem to be healthier, happier, and finally able to tell their story.
Click here to see a complete timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s feud with the royal family.
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