PRINCE Harry used to tease William and say “if you don’t want to be king, I will be”, a royal author has revealed.
Ingrid Seward claims Princess Diana told her Wills “hated the publicity he attracted” while his younger brother “took everything in this stride”.
– Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
Writing in The Celeb Report, Seward said Diana told her in 1997: “He [Harry] takes everything in his stride.
“He is always teasing William — ‘If you don’t want to be King, it doesn’t matter, I will be’.”
Harry was just 12 years old at the time, while William was 15.
The Duke of Sussex’s words seem difficult to believe now after he and wife Meghan Markle quit the UK and life as working royals for California.
The brothers’ late mother also said she “hardly saw the boys” after going through her “hell divorce” from Charles, according to Seward, who is editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine.
“She told me William hated the publicity he attracted but she explained to him he would have to learn to live with it,” she said.
“When he was a bit older he would learn to adjust.”
Diana explained she would never do anything to hurt the monarchy, Seward said, telling her: “I have no wish to upset what is essentially part of William’s inheritance, whether he likes it or not.”
“But she had, of course, as she knew very well — and the bitterness built up over the previous 16 years lingered on,” Seward said.
Seward’s comments come ahead of what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday.
Warring William and Harry said to have called a truce for the unveiling of a statue to mum Diana — but are said to be further apart than ever.
The pair are due at Kensington Palace in London on July 1 — their first meeting since Prince Philip’s funeral in April.
The feuding brothers are communicating by “minimal” texts amid their bitter fallout.
But they are said to be determined to show the utmost respect by pledging a truce.
The princes will leave the Palace together, walk to the statue then deliver their own speeches.
