William and Harry fell out years before Megxit, says a leading royal author. They were on ‘no speaks’ 20 years ago – because little brother Harry felt he ALWAYS got the blame

Despite reports that Harry wants to rebuild bridges with the Royal Family, there is little sign of William allowing that to happen – not in the immediate term.

The distance between the two is all the sadder given how close the two princes, united in adversity, had once been.

Yet as royal biographer Robert Lacey points out, if there is now a chasm between the brothers, it’s not the first time that William and Harry have fallen out.

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Prince William and Prince Harry were ushers at Tamara Grosvenor’s 2004 wedding at Chester Cathedral

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Looking sombre at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee

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Prince Harry and friend Guy Pelly watch England play France at Twickenham

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Prince Harry found himself on the front pages after it was discovered he had been smoking cannabis

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Princes William and Harry at Cirencester Park Polo Club. They had played In the winning Highgrove team for the King Constantine Trophy

The fissures were visible much earlier, in fact – as far back as 2002.

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That’s the year it was discovered that Harry had been smoking cannabis, a revelation generating excruciating ‘drug shame’ headlines.

There was further humiliation for Harry three years later when he was pictured wearing a Nazi desert uniform to a Colonials and Natives fancy dress party held at the home of Olympic gold-medal winning showjumper Richard Meade.

Amid the furore, Harry issued a public apology and Prince Charles packed him off to be lectured by the Chief Rabbi.

Yet how was it, asks Lacey, that Harry took all the blame from such incidents while the elder brother emerged Scot free.

‘Meghan was not the original factor in Prince Harry’s decision to get shot of his family,’ writes the author in his best-selling Battle of Brothers.

‘In January 2005 following the “Colonials and Natives” costume fiasco, we now know that Prince Harry was drawn to re-evaluate his elder brother’s involvement and the unfairness of William’s emergence smelling of roses.

‘It made Harry feel alienated. Friends recall “no speaks” and quite a serious rift between the brothers at the time – as there had been after the “Drugs Shame” of 2002, when Harry had first started to realise the price of playing the functional scapegoat.’

On that occasion, writes Lacey, Harry and friend Guy Pelly had taken the blame for the ‘wild antics’ at the Rattlebone pub, ‘when the real Rattlebone ring leader had been William.’

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Prince Harry plays polo for Eton College at Cirencester Park

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The Rattlebone Inn in Sherston, Wiltshire

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The Sun newspaper published a picture of Prince Harry wearing a khaki uniform with a swastika armband for a fancy dress party. The Crown recreated the moment, above, in its final series

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Harry was criticised yet claims his brother had helped him choose the offending costume. There was no criticism of William in the subsequent furore

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Prince Harry’s relationship with his brother suffered and they barely spoke, says royal author and commentator Katie Nicholl. Harry and William are pictured at Sandringham

Author and journalist Katie Nicholl recalls one royal aide telling her that ‘for the first time their relationship really suffered and they barely spoke…Harry resented the fact that William got away so lightly.’

Lacy concludes that:

‘It was the function of the elder brother to be perfect whether he truly was or was not and it was the function of the younger one to make the rest of us laugh or complain or feel disapproving – and at all events to make us feel thoroughly superior to the poor clueless kid.

‘This was the role that all of us shaped for Prince Harry over the years.’