Prince Harry Thinks King Charles Always Preferred William

With each passing day, it feels like Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, get further away from making amends and going back to being the fun-loving royals we all remember. According to a royal insider, however, the tension between the two has been brewing for years—and it all goes back to King Charles. Tom Quinn, author of Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly, told The Mirror that Harry always felt that his father treated William like his favorite and that the family dynamic caused “volatility” between father and son.

That not-so-pleasant vibe reported made Charles “terrified” of what Harry would do and, in turn, made William look “stable” and “risk-free,” Quinn noted.

“Harry’s real beef is that he is convinced Charles always preferred William anyway and not just because William is the heir,” Quinn explained. “Harry’s difficulties when he was a teenager and his increasing volatility as an adult terrified Charles who turned to the far more stable, risk-free William.”

Quinn went on to say that it wasn’t a secret to anyone and that Harry, Charles, and William all were aware of each other’s feelings.

“Charles increasingly saw William as a safe pair of hands and Harry as too emotionally unstable,” Quinn finished. “Deep down, Harry knows this and he deeply resents it.”

As the royal family feud has dragged on, fans have hoped for a reconciliation. There were glimmers of possibility when Harry hopped the pond earlier this year after Charles announced that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, but just a few months later, when the Duke of Sussex was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, Charles was reportedly too busy to see his son. Of course, with each trip, there was the hope that William and Harry would at least see each other, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Many believe that the animosity between the royals stems from various catalysts, including the family’s treatment of Meghan Markle; Harry’s memoir, Spare; and the Sussexes’ multiple interviews, where they’ve opened up about the behind-the-scenes machinations of the royal family.