The gulf between Prince William and Prince Harry has never been wider. Once inseparable, the brothers' relationship seems to have completely disintegrated - with the chance of a reconciliation less and less likely as time goes on.
This is not a feud that happened over night, however. Bad blood has been brewing for years following well-documented jealousies and misunderstandings, which intensified with the arrival of Harry's wife Meghan Markle.
And things only got worse after the couple stepped down as working royals and hit out at their royal relatives in a docuseries on Netflix, followed by the Duke's tell-all memoir Spare.
Harry has reportedly reached out to his older brother following Princess Kate's shock cancer diagnosis - but insiders have insisted William and Kate are putting the 'Harry problem' to the back of their minds as the future Queen concentrates on her health.
With the Duke due to fly back to the UK in May, the Mirror breaks down exactly what happened to turn the once inseparable brothers into enemies...
September 1998: 'William snubs Harry at Eton'
In his memoir Spare, Harry claims William was keen to create a distance between them as far back as their teens. When he joined his big brother at elite boarding school, Eton College, Harry claimed William told him to pretend they didn't know one another, and alleged that his older brother "hated it when anyone made the mistake of thinking of us a package deal". Harry described how he wanted to share things with his brother, who he says seemed "indifferent" to him.
January 2005: 'Nazi costume scandal'
According to Harry, it was William and Kate - who was the future King's girlfriend at the time - who encouraged him to don the now-infamous uniform to a fancy dress party. The Duke has claimed it was their encouragement that caused him to choose it, but said he had to face the backlash alone - and it filled him with "bottomless self-loathing".
In the passage in his memoir, he also described making peace with the idea that Kate may take up much of his elder brother's time by imagining the future good times they would all share together.
November 2010: 'William's engagement is news to Harry'
In November 2010, it was announced that Kate and William were getting married - but this was apparently news to Harry. In Spare, he rubbished claims he gave his older brother their late mother's engagement ring so he could use it to propose to Kate, labelling the story "absolute rubbish".
It was reported that Harry had shared a "tender moment" with his elder brother prior to William's engagement announcement in November 2010. But Harry said that wasn't the case, and claimed he didn't even know his brother was planning to get down on one knee.
Harry said he found out about William's engagement via newspapers, despite spending a recent trip together in Lesotho. He wrote: "Soon after we returned to Britain the Palace announced that Willy was going to marry. November 2010... News to me. All that time together in Lesotho, he'd never mentioned it.
"The papers published florid stories about the moment I realised Willy and Kate were well matched, the moment I appreciated the depth of their love and thus decided to gift Willy the ring I'd inherited from Mummy, the legendary sapphire, a tender moment between brothers, a bonding moment for all three of us, and absolute rubbish: none of it ever happened. I never gave Willy that ring because it wasn’t mine to give. He already had it. He'd asked for it after Mummy died, and I'd been more than happy to let it go."
April 2011: 'William's best man riddle'
In 2011, Kate and William finally tied the knot, but Prince Harry claimed that while he was the public-facing best man, the honour of giving the speech at the reception was left with two of William's friends instead. In his memoir, Harry said he understood why the privacy of William's friends needed to be respected, but said that despite what the public thought, it was a "bare-faced lie" that he had held this position of honour.
Summer 2013: William 'jealous' of Harry's new project
As William was about to become a father, Harry took on a new project of his own - the Invictus Games. However, in his memoir, he accused his older brother of reacting with envy and displaying all the hallmarks of "sibling rivalry" when he told him about the new charitable endeavour. He also claimed that when he got involved in efforts to prevent illegal poaching in Africa in late 2015, his brother reacted by saying "Africa was his thing".
Summer 2016: Harry introduces Meghan
In his book, Harry claimed that William and Kate had reacted with shock and joy when he told them about Meghan because they were 'massive fans' of Suits. Harry said he looked forward to the upcoming experiences he and Meghan would share with the couple, but said his brother warned him to take things slow.
In October 2016, Meghan met William for the first time, Harry explains in his memoir, and quickly went in for a hug - something he says made William recoil. Harry put this down to a culture clash and noted that his brother told him sincerely that he was happy for him and his new relationship, which was made public around the same time.
November 2016: 'Row over Harry's statement defending Meghan'
In November 2016, Harry released a strongly-worded statement about the backlash Meghan had been facing since their relationship was made public. But it was a move that he claimed made both his father Charles and William extremely angry.
He wrote: "Pa and Willy were furious. They gave me an earful. My statement made them look bad, they both said, 'Why in hell? Because they'd never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed."
Autumn 2017 - 'William warns Harry not to marry Meghan'
In his memoir, Harry says his brother advised him against his plan to propose to Meghan, with his elder sibling warning him not to move too fast.
After a year together, Harry was ready to get down on one knee which, according to Spare, did not go down well with his William. He is said to have been 'concerned' and told his younger brother he was taking things 'a bit too far'. Harry wrote: “It's too fast, he'd told me. Too soon. In fact, he'd actually been pretty discouraging about my even dating Meg.
"One day, sitting together in his garden, he'd predicted a host of difficulties I could expect if I hooked up with an 'American actress', a phrase he always managed to make sound like a 'convicted felon'." According to author Omid Scobie, the wedding marked the beginning of a more distant chapter in the brothers' relationship.
June 2018: 'The Fab Four try to patch things up'
Harry said he and Meghan were invited to William and Kate's home in an attempt to build bridges after the wedding. While there, Harry claims his brother lost his temper and pointed his finger in Meghan's face in response to her saying Kate had "baby brain".
Scobie reports in his book Endgame that Charles stepped in during the festive season of 2018, to try and repair relations between the two brothers, and advised William to invite Meghan and Harry to Anmer Hall - his Norfolk home - for the Christmas period. William reportedly did so, but according to Scobie "the band-aid didn't hold for long".
Early 2019: Brothers come to blows
Prince Harry claimed his brother grabbed him by the collar and knocked him to the floor in a brawl following a heated row over Meghan. In Spare, the Duke of Sussex alleged he had a confrontation with his elder brother at his London home in 2019, which left him with cuts and scratches on his back.
The Prince of Wales was "piping hot" when he arrived at Harry's Nottingham Cottage home to talk about their relationship, with their pair shouting over each other in the squabble. Harry then dismissed his brother's claims he was trying to help and went to the kitchen where he allegedly told him, "Willy, I can't speak to you when you're like this".
He claimed: "He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. 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." According to Harry, William reportedly asked him not to tell Meghan about the confrontation, to which Harry said: "You mean that you attacked me?" His brother responded: "I didn't attack you, Harold."
Harry said he did not immediately tell his wife about the incident but she had later noticed 'scrapes and bruises' on his back. During the argument, William is said to have called Megan "difficult", "rude" and "abrasive" – comments which his younger brother said parroted 'the press narrative' about his wife.
October 2019: 'Different paths'
Harry admitted during an interview with ITV that he and his brother were "on different paths at the moment" after speculation in the press about the state of their relationship, although he said he loved his brother "dearly". In January 2020, the Sussexes announced their intention to step back as full-time working royals with the hope of creating a hybrid role.
Shortly afterward, William is quoted by the Sunday Times as saying "I've put my arm around my brother all our lives and I can't do that anymore; we're separate entities".
Later that month, it was announced that there would be no hybrid model available to the Sussexes, and that they were fully out as working royals.
March 2021: Bombshell Oprah interview
The following year, Meghan and Harry gave their explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey, in which they detailed some of the reasons they had wanted to step back as working royals. In their Netflix documentary, which was released in 2022, Harry is seen receiving a text message from his brother and looking upset in a scene filmed right after the Oprah interview had aired.
In the final episode of the six-part docuseries, Meghan is heard cutting short a conversation with friend Tyler Perry, announcing: "Wow. H just got a text... H just got a text from his brother."
It launched Harry into a tailspin as he told his wife: "I wish I knew what to do," while Meghan responded: "I know. Let's take a breather. Get some air and then decide."
In the interview, Meghan and Harry had accused an unnamed member of the royal family of raising 'concerns' about the colour of their son Archie's skin. In the days after it aired, William hit back, telling reporters at an engagement that we are "very much not a racist family." The Queen also released the now-infamous "recollections may vary" statement.
April 2021: Brother's reunite for Philip's funeral
As a result of the pandemic, Harry and William's paths didn't cross for some time - until their grandfather Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021. The socially distanced service saw only a handful of mourners attend, and afterwards, William and Harry were seen tentatively chatting with Kate on the walk back to Windsor Castle.
Harry claimed in his memoir that his brother called him out on his interview with Oprah, and his own cooperation with the press, before using a "secret code" that stopped Harry in his tracks. When either of the brothers said the words "on Mummy's life" it was a signal that they needed to be believed by the other, and in this case, William used it to reiterate to his younger brother that he wanted him to be happy.
July 2021: Diana's statue is unveiled by both brothers
A couple of months later, the two brothers reunited again for another poignant occasion - the unveiling of a statue of their late mother on what would have been her 60th birthday. The unveiling of the statue, commissioned by the brothers, was the last time they would be together for a long time.
June 2022: The Queen's Platinum Jubilee
All eyes were on Harry and Meghan when they returned to the UK for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. But, according to the Sunday Times reports that the brothers "spent no private time together" during the weekend.
In the end, Harry and Meghan kept a low profile throughout the weekend - although they did attend the two biggest events. For the Trooping the Colour parade, the couple watched from the Major General's Office ; as non-working members of the royal family were not invited to attend the traditional balcony appearance during the parade.
And the next day, the duke and duchess made their first official U.K. public appearance since stepping back as senior members of the royal family, attending the National Service of Thanksgiving honouring the Queen at St. Paul's Cathedral.
September 2022: Queen Elizabeth dies
The brothers reunited to mourn their grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and viewed tributes left by the public together in Windsor, alongside their wives. However, Scobie reports that this was the first time the couples had seen each other since the Jubilee, and that the car ride there was uncomfortable to say the least.
According to the author, William was forced to invite Harry and Meghan on the walkabout by Charles. For Kate, the occasion is said to have been one of the "hardest things she'd ever had to do".
December 2022: Harry's Netflix documentary drops
While William was in Boston for the Earthshot prize, Netflix released the trailer for Harry and Meghan's Netflix docuseries. Scobie claims that the streaming giant timed this on purpose, and the series itself was filled with further details about the Sussexes' complaints and allegations against the royal households.
Scobie claims in his book that it was a frosty festive period, and he says that while the Sussexes sent Christmas presents to their nephews and niece, no messages were exchanged directly between the two brothers.
January 2023: Spare is released
Harry's explosive memoir was released at the start of 2023 and quickly topped bestseller lists. It detailed the difficulties the brothers had faced in their sibling relationship since childhood, and alleged that staff working for William had leaked stories about the Sussexes to the press. In interviews promoting the memoir, Harry said he was open to reconciliation if he received an apology, but said the ball was in his family's court.
March 2023: Sussexes evicted
News broke in March that the Sussexes have been evicted from their UK home Frogmore Cottage given that they lived full-time in California. However, Scobie reported that this happened earlier and was a direct response to Spare's release. He claimed Princess Anne was the one who convinced Charles to force them to hand back the keys.
Harry also returned to the UK for some legal hearings, but didn't see his brother or father. Two months later, he attended King Charles's coronation, but Meghan stayed at home. William played a starring role in the ceremony and paid homage to his father, but Harry was relegated to enjoy the proceedings from three rows back.
February 2024: King's cancer diagnosis
On 5 February, Buckingham Palace announced that the King had been diagnosed with cancer. It prompted an outpouring of support for the monarch - and speculation that the news could go some way to reconciling his sons.
But insiders said the damage was done. Harry immediately flew over from California to see his father; but their reunion was brief. He spent just 45 minutes with the King at Clarence House, before Charles and Camilla left for the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
Harry and William did not see each other during the trip, with the future King reportedly rejecting any concept of a royal return.. A royal source told the Daily Express: "There's no way that the Prince of Wales will wear it. Harry may well want to step back into a royal role but as far as his brother is concerned nothing has changed. Prince William has enough on his plate at the moment. His father is being treated for cancer and his wife is recovering from abdominal surgery. He simply doesn't have the bandwidth for this."
March 2024: Diana division and Kate's diagnosis
The Prince of Wales took part in a ceremony on 14 March paying tribute to his late mother at the Diana Legacy Award, with the Duke of Sussex joining via video-link after his brother had left.
William attended the event in person at the Science Museum in London, giving a speech to mark the charity’s 25th anniversary. Once he had exited the event, Harry joined the winners via video call in California, avoiding any interaction with his brother.
Just says later on 22 March, Princess Kate shared that she too had been diagnosed with cancer. Following the devastating announcement, the Sussexes released a short statement which read: "We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace."
It was later revealed that Harry and Meghan had been informed of Kate's condition - but only a short time before the news was made public in a 'strategic' move.
According to ITV's royal editor Chris Ship, "Harry and Meghan have both been in touch with their brother/sister-in-law but did so privately. It is not clear if that was a phone/video call or some messages of support."
However, sources close to William and Kate say the pair are keen their distance.
Royal expert and author Tom Quinn said: "There is just too much ill-feeling for that. William, who is still hurt by everything Harry has said in the past, has responded, but the response is very much engineered by the palace and it's hardly the kind of warm, informal response you would expect from one brother to another. It's more like the sort of communication you would get between two slightly wary diplomats."
May 2024: Invictus Games
Prince Harry is due to return to the UK in May to celebrate ten years of the Invictus Games. Given his highly-publicised concerns over security in Britain, it's likely that he will travel alone, without Meghan or their children. Sources have said he is keen to spend time with his brother and sister-in-law. But according to reports, William and Kate's "Harry problem" is the "very last thing on their minds".
MailOnline reports that it is understood that the Waleses "have no plans for a reconciliation during the Duke of Sussex's expected visit to the UK in May".
June 2024: Society wedding
Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster's wedding to Olivia Henson will take place this June at Chester Cathedral. The Duke has remained friends with both William and Harry and there is a chance they could both attend the ceremony.
It was previously reported that while Harry and Meghan had received a 'save the date', they had informed the groom they would not attend because it would be 'too awkward'. But, according to Ephraim Hardcastle, it has become a "society guessing game" as to whether or not Harry will show up at the event.
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