PRINCE Harry laid bare his bitter relationship with William and Kate — saying they were never a “Fab Four”.
The Duke of Sussex said in his ITV interview the stereotype of Meghan being a “divorced, biracial American actress” stopped Kate and William welcoming her into the Royal Family.
Harry laid bare his bitter relationship with William and Kate — saying they were never a ‘Fab Four’ – the two couples at Sandringham in 2017
Harry said: ‘Very quickly it became Meghan versus Kate’ – here the Royals at Westminster Abbey in March, 2020
He claimed it was fair to say the warring couples failed to get on “from the get-go” and was sad that Meghan’s arrival on the scene drove he and his brother apart.
Harry said: “Very quickly it became Meghan versus Kate. And that, when it plays out so publicly, you can’t hide from that.”
Harry, 38, told Tom Bradby friction was caused by the couples competing against each other, and claimed his brother and sister-in-law could not cope with Suits actress Meghan, who had “a very successful career”.
Opening up about the spat, he claimed: “There was a lot of stereotyping that was happening, that I was guilty of as well, at the beginning.”
Pressed by the TV frontman to explain the rift, Harry replied: “American actress — and that was playing out in the British press, in the media, at the time as well.
“So you know, the fact that I had that in the back of my mind, and some of the things that my brother and sister-in-law — some of the way that they were acting or behaving — definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really introducing or welcoming her in.”
Sources say Bradby was keen not to appear “like another Oprah”, and challenged Harry to give specific information on the row — which has now sparked fresh racism allegations.
Harry replied: “Well, American actress, divorced, biracial, there’s all different parts to that and what that can mean, but if you are, like a lot of my family do, if you are reading the press, the British tabloids, at the same time as living the life, then there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality.”
He said it was hard for him as he’d always “hoped” the four of them would get on.
Harry explained: “The idea of the four of us being together was always a hope for me.
“Before it was Meghan, whoever it was gonna be, I always hoped that the four of us would get on.”
The two couples were dubbed the Fab Four and hailed as the future of the monarchy when Harry began dating Meghan in 2016. But Harry claimed they ended up in competition which created a rift that has not been repaired.
Harry, Meghan, Kate and Wills at a 2018 London event
Brothers and their wives at the late Queen’s lying in state
Speaking about the Fab Four description, he said: “It was something that the British press created, which they could then dissect or, again it builds, it creates competition.”
The Sussexes have previously claimed “everything changed” when they received adulation and global headlines during their October 2018 tour of Australia.
Harry told Bradby William never told him not to marry Meghan.
But he said: “He aired some concerns very early, and said ‘This is gonna be really hard for you’ and I still don’t truly understand which part of what he was talking about.”
In his biography Spare, Harry accuses William of calling Meghan rude and abrasive.
They ended up allegedly fighting in Nottingham Cottage as Wills knocked his younger sibling to the ground after grabbing his necklace, making him fall on a dog bowl.
In a second spat, he described William “lunging” at him during talks at Frogmore Cottage — just hours after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral — after confronting him about the Oprah interview.
Neither William nor Kate have ever spoken about their relationship with Harry and Meghan. William is said to be saddened but calm about his brother’s revelations — which have been drip-fed for the past ten days before the publication of Harry’s memoir.
Speaking about his allegations in the book of their fight, Harry told the ITV broadcast: “It is heart-breaking. This whole thing is completely, not just unnecessary, it’s incredibly sad.
“But there’s a way through it. There’s a way out of it. And that’s what I’m focused on now. But yes, it’s heart-breaking.”
The brothers have barely spoken since Megxit but are said to share the occasional text message.
Despite revealing a string of private encounters and conversations with both his father and brother on the pages of his biography, Harry told the interview: “What they have to say to me and what I say to them will be in private. I hope it can stay that way.”
Harry revealed ‘This whole thing is completely, not just unnecessary, it’s incredibly sad’
Bradby asked: “The impression is that almost from the get-go it’s just they don’t get on. Fair? The Prince replied: “Yeah, fair.”
The Celeb Report revealed in the summer of 2018 that Harry and Meghan were splitting from William and Kate’s Royal Foundation.
In his book, the Duke of Sussex also claims Kate made Meghan cry at a bridesmaids fitting for Princess Charlotte.
And he describes Kate wide-eyed and gripping her chair demanding an apology from Meghan for speaking about her “hormones” and “baby brain”.
In the interview Harry went even further. He said he loves his brother and father, but accused unnamed family members of “being in bed with the devil” for telling lies about him and Meghan.
Describing the decision to quit royal duty to live in California he took the opportunity to blast his family yet again.
Harry said: “At that time I didn’t fully understand how complicit the family were in that pain and suffering that was happening to my wife.
“The one group of people that could’ve stopped this were the people that were encouraging it.”
The Duke of Sussex claims he wants to return to the UK to attend the King’s Coronation in May, although it is unclear if he and Meghan will be invited.
