According to a royal expert, old pals of feuding brothers Prince William and Prince Harry have been forced to choose between the two – causing Harry and wife Meghan to see “ties severed” with several friends
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have seen ties with old friends ‘severed’ amid their bitter feud with Prince William, according to an expert.
Growing up, now estranged brothers William and Harry shared many of the same friends, who were part of their close, tight-knit circle. But fast-forward to the present day, and the two warring brothers are still embroiled in a bitter feud fuelled by Harry railing against his family in his controversial memoir Spare. And according to an expert, this has had a huge effect on Harry and wife Meghan’s friendship circle, with many feeling forced to pick a side between the two sides.
Speaking on the Vanity Fair podcast Dynasty: The Royal Family’s Most Challenging Year, the publication’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl explained: “I think the ties have been severed. I think there is a sense that, possibly, friends, close friends, society friends, celebrity friends have sort of had to make a little bit of a choice. I remember being told by someone at the Palace there was this sense that you had to put your stake in one camp or the other.
“I think if you look back to that recent society wedding of the Duke of Westminster, it was William who got the invite to that, and Harry was invited because they’ve been friends forever and a day, but he was basically asked to stand down from that wedding because it would have been very awkward to have had the two brothers at a society wedding like that, together. So I think they probably have lost some friends in all of this.”
Since quitting the UK and moving to California, Harry and Meghan have been seen out and about with several high-profile names. Just last week, Meghan was seen leaving lunch with former Father Of The Bride actress, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, while earlier this year the Sussexes attended a fund-raiser with Bodyguard star Kevin Costner.
And Katie added: “Personally, I have to say I’ve been a little underwhelmed with the celebrities who they’ve been hanging out with. Don’t get me wrong – I love Kevin Costner – he’s fabulous, but I thought they’d be mingling far more with the A-List. I thought we’d see them out far more with Oprah [Winfrey], and Gwyneth [Paltrow], and that sort of crowd, and they haven’t been.
Perhaps that is all part of them wanting to live a life that is a bit more below the radar; that doesn’t end up getting them papped, that doesn’t end up getting them in all the celebrity magazines, and actually, in Montecito, they’re able to do that. I’m sure there’s a whole plethora of VIP dinner parties that are taking place at theirs that we have no idea about.”
