No parent would be happy for their children to be estranged, but people who were close to Princess Diana say the late royal would have been especially devastated by the ongoing rift between her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Diana's biographer, Andrew Morton, spoke to People about the brothers' feud and how it would have impacted Diana as part of a cover story published in the lead-up to the 28th anniversary of her untimely death, in a car accident in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.
"Diana always used to say she had two boys for a reason — the younger would be there to support the older in the lonely task as future king," Morton, author of Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words, explained.
Diana always knew that life as a member of the royal family could be lonely (particularly for those directly in line for the throne, like William, and now her oldest grandchild, Prince George), and felt that the sibling bond would be vital to helping them cope during the hardest moments that come along with that life. It's no surprise, then, that Morton, whose latest book about the royal family, Winston and the Windsors, is due out this fall, in October, says confidently that the late royal would be doing anything in her power to help her sons reconcile if she were still alive.
"There is no doubt Diana would have tried to act as a peacemaker between them," Morton explained. "If she had been around, they would have worked things out in a different way."
Of William and Harry's now-infamous royal rift itself, Morton said only that, "Things were said that sparked the initial rift, and it’s never healed."
While the fact that a divide exists is common knowledge and there has been much speculation about the specific details of the breakdown in their bond over the years, the only truly confirmed details have come in rare revelations from the royals themselves. In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry notably cited one incident in which he says William physically attacked him.
"He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast," Harry wrote of the explosive moment. "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out."
Morton isn't alone in his take that Diana would be saddened by the current state of William and Harry's relationship. Speaking to People for the same cover story, another source described as being someone "close to the royal household" agreed.
“This is the sadness of it—they aren’t supporting each other like they should be,” the source said. “That’s what any mother would want—that they are there for each other.”
