A columnist has offered her perspective on the rift between Prince William and Prince Harry claiming the two brothers are like any other siblings. Dame Jenni Murray, who has presented Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio, said the Prince of Wales can sometimes be a “misery guts”, while the Duke of Sussex has the “easy manner and more relaxed attitude to life that is typical of the second child”.
As reported in the Daily Mail, she said: “As a mother of two sons, Ed and Charlie, contemporaries of William and Harry, I’m fascinated by the way the royal brothers typify the first and second son syndrome with which I’m familiar.
“From a young age, the older boy knows what he wants to be when he grows up – or in William’s case has to be. While the younger one has no such concerns.”
She added how Prince William takes his future “seriously”. She explained: “I reckon it starts with the parents. First time around the responsibility of a new baby is enormous. You worry so much about getting it right. The second time, you know what you’re doing.
“The atmosphere in the house is more relaxed. Number two smiles and laughs more… He grows up to be a natural charmer, always breezing in with good humour.”
Since stepping down as working royals in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have aired their feelings about their time in the Royal Family in various public interviews, a Netflix docuseries, and Harry’s own bombshell memoir, Spare.
Dame Jenni said, Harry, 41, must visit William and Kate in person and “apologise, on bended knee” for all the things he “wrote about his family for financial gain” in his memoir, Spare.
She added: “The royal boys need to share responsibility. Harry can ease some of William’s worries and William can then cheer up a bit while not making Harry feel like a spare.
“They need each other. They are family. It’s love that counts. And perhaps most importantly, it’s what their mother would have wanted.”
Prince Harry was in the UK in early September to attend the WellChild Awards. Although he visited Clarence House for a brief meeting with King Charles for the first time in over two years, he did not meet his brother, Prince William during his short trip.
He last saw his father in February 2024, shortly after it was announced that Charles was undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer. Last May, Harry told the BBC his father wasn’t speaking to him because of his security battles but that “it would be nice to reconcile.”
