The last face-to-face between Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, did not go as planned.
According to a royal expert Robert Lacey, the duo sat down at the so-called Sandringham summit to iron out the “Megxit” contract.
The awkward meeting was put together by Queen Elizabeth, who wanted to have a set of rules for Harry and wife Meghan Markle before they left London for Canada.
Mr. Lacey, the author of Battle of Brothers: William & Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, shared some rather heartbreaking details about the events that took place that day.
According to the top royal historian, the Queen, who has seen a few royal scandals throughout the years, did her part, making sure the emotional reunion between her grandsons was somewhat bearable.
The new biography revealed that Her Majesty asked William to have lunch with Harry and the rest of the family to ease some tensions.
William snubbed his younger brother by turning down the invitation. An excerpt from the bombshell book read: “William maintained his distance for the Sandringham summit. The Queen had suggested the family should gather for lunch before their big pow-wow in the library that afternoon, but he refused his grandmother’s invitation.”
William explained why he declined to be with Harry before his departure: “I put my arm around my brother all our lives, and I can’t do it anymore. We’re separate entities.'”
According to the book, William also revealed that he did not want to be part of the negotiations.
Lacey shared how the tense meeting went down: “The Queen concluded that the four of them — Harry, William, Charles and herself — should sit down with their respective private secretaries at Sandringham the following Monday to hash things out, though William confided to a friend that he would much rather leave all the haggling to the staff.”
Lacey concluded by: “It was like dealing with a hard-nosed Hollywood lawyer,’ says a senior palace source familiar with the negotiations. ‘The Sussexes wanted guarantees on every single point as if it were a contractual negotiation.”
In a recent interview, the author cautiously sided with Harry in the drama by explaining that the royal family has a habit of treating second-born children unfairly.
He stated: “They always treat the second-born badly, not to say cruelly. It happened with Princess Margaret. It happened with Prince Andrew. They just don’t know what to do with the spare.”
Harry, his wife, and their son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, have settled in a multimillion-dollar home in California.
Almost a year after the brothers parted ways; they have not been able to reconnect. Royal insiders say they barely talk.
