A new bombshell book titled "Finding Freedom", which is an unofficial biography of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, revealed that Harry's brother, Prince William, appeared to have infuriated his sibling with just five words about his then-fiancée.
"Are you sure about this?" William asked Harry as he took him aside shortly after the latter became engaged to Meghan Markle, according to The Telegraph.
The question appeared to make Harry "ballistic", with him claiming that William was "trying to wreck this relationship before it’s even started". According to other sources, William and his wife Kate Middleton added fuel to the fire by not making Meghan "feel particularly welcome" when she moved to the United Kingdom. Some insiders, however, claimed that the couple acted in Harry's best interests.
“You have to remember that Kate and Harry were always very close too”, one insider told The Telegraph.
However, according to the book, it was not only about Meghan when it came to William and Harry's brotherly competition. Long before meeting Markle, Harry wanted to change things as he was feeling "awkward as a plus one" in his older brother's shadow.
“Long before Meghan he wanted to change things. He wanted to control his own narrative. He would say, 'Why can’t we use social media or record videos and cut out the press?'” the book said.
When Meghan appeared in his life, the contrast between the couple's approach to the royal family's image with that of William and Kate's intensified. While the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge "were happy adopting the palace’s 'never complain, never explain' mantra”, the Sussexes appeared to want to react to all the negativity they faced in the media.
“The palace approach would always be - how did we do it last time? He wanted to do things differently and I think Meghan was the catalyst for him but also gave him the confidence which he lacked to change things", one of the insiders claimed.
Earlier, Prince Harry admitted that he and his older brother were "certainly on different paths", but reiterated commitment to him as part of the family, saying that "we’ll always be brothers".