Prince Harry, William relationship 'very bad,' Meghan Markle not at fault

Meghan Markle is not to blame for the alleged rift between Prince Harry and Prince William. A royal source claimed that the brothers were already experiencing problems way before the duchess entered the royal fold.

Tensions between the siblings were already brewing after the Duke of Sussex left the army in 2015. He met the former "Suits" star in 2016 after they were introduced by a mutual friend and went on a blind date.

Royal biographer Tina Brown traced the brothers' strained relationship back to the 37-year old's retirement from the armed forces. He was "rattling around and not really knowing who he was" because he no longer had to follow the path bound to him when he was in the army. Prince Harry was in the army for ten years and he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

The author claimed that the brothers' differences also played a role in the brewing tension. She told The Telegraph, "The truth is the more charismatic prince was the younger brother. That was very difficult because Harry had to be contained and a role found for him."

She added, "He had all these interests in Africa and conservation, but so did William and Harry always had to play second banana. Diana insisted, much to her credit as a mother, that the two boys would be treated the same, but they were never going to be the same, that's the problem."

Brown claimed that gradually this difference "became a major tension between them." Prince William "had this great destiny ahead of him, he knew who he was." But Prince Harry was lost, "it's like, 'Who am I going to be–Uncle Andrew? Am I really going there?'"

The royal author said that as it stands, the relationship between the siblings is "very bad." She cited a source who claimed that "there's absolutely nothing going on between them at the moment."

It is said that Prince Harry and Prince William's strained relationship took a turn for the worse in January 2020 when he and Meghan Markle announced their decision to abandon their royal duties. Thereafter, they did the Oprah Winfrey interview in March 2020 in which they revealed a series of accusations against the royal family.