Rift between William and Harry?

[velveteenwabbit]

Do you think the rumours of a rift between the two are true? I thought the press may be blowing it out of proportion then saw they've disbanded their joint charity, ok fair enough they each have their own families etc... but today on William's birthday Harry and Meghan's Instagram account have posted a very basic "happy birthday to the duke of Cambridge" without any affection at all. Makes me think the rift must be true.

I am no expert in Royal matters but I think that the direct heirs are all taking on more responsibilities now as the Queen is not doing as much. It means Charles and William are doing more royal duties such as the honours ceremonies and the overseas tours.

It is inevitable that William will do more as well as he is a future heir. Harry is not. He's quite far down the list now, actually!

Harry (and William) are not fans of the media in general and try to keep as much of their lives private, their friends don't speak to the press. Meghan seems to love the media, her friends talk on TV shows! I do think that's a potential clash, especially if they (H&M) see themselves as some kind of global brand going forward because I don't think there is as much interest in them as they think.

Harry is stuck in the same position as Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Think about the complaints about Air Miles Andy and his roving ambassador role.

I think the foundation split could be because the Cambridges have to be more establishment aware and “neutral” whilst the Sussexes will have more freedom to allow their own views and opinions to be known. They may choose to support more edgy causes.

What's the twitter name for Harry and Meghan?

OP, I can't see any message about Prince William's birthday on the Sussex Royal Instagram account. Has it been removed? www.instagram.com/sussexroyal/?hl=en

Harry is stuck in the same position as Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Think about the complaints about Air Miles Andy and his roving ambassador role

That's actually a pretty fair point - though while he's undoubtably made mistakes, I'm not sure he's in quite the same boorish category as his embarrassing uncle

Or maybe he's just not had the time and opportunities yet ...

To be fair to Harry, his youthful misdemeanours seem well and truly in the past. Since then he's established the Invictus games and an HIV charity in Africa, which is more than old Airmiles ever did!

After everything Diana went through I find it doubtful William would have an affair, also there is only speculation and gossip in the press it's all very far fetched.

I do think there is rift between the brothers, body language alone when they are around each other. It's obviously happened since Megan's arrival on the scene.

I suspect the only way to ensure that William and then George will be King is to drastically cut the amount of hangers on in the Royal Family to just the direct heirs. That in the future will include Harry and Meghan. The baby doesn't have a title and a name that will mean he can be Archie Harrison if he wants. They have to carve their own path. Louis may be a cute baby now, but in a couple of generations, if he doesn't make his own way, he will be a pointless drain on the taxpayer just like every other minor Royal. They need to do their own thing like the Phillips children. Him and Charlotte will have to do the same when they get to Harry's age.

Perhaps I should clarify that I mean position in the Royal Family I think Harry's still popular but it's an awkward position to be in. Imagine being important right up until the point your sibling (the heir) marries and produces a family (more heirs) of their own, and then you are supposed to bow out gracefully and find something else to do.

The Invictus games - brilliant. Two people becoming a global brand - not so sure. Anything too commercial will draw criticism (using their name/Royalty to earn money). I don't envy them trying to find something to do tbh.

Harry has already admitted publicly that once the Queen passes the royal family will be far less important. He knows that calls will be made for less funding and slowly the lesser totals will get cut off. It’s inevitable. So he and Meghan have to become a commercial enterprise, hence why I think they’ll disappear off to America and make a lot of money as the Americans love our royal family.

*Lesser royals

They need to do their own thing like the Phillips children.
Princess Anne did well there - no titles for them, egg and chips for tea get on with it with no airs and graces.

I think the foundation split could be because the Cambridges have to be more establishment aware and “neutral” whilst the Sussexes will have more freedom to allow their own views and opinions to be known.

I think this is possibly right, although it's also possible that the priorities of each couple just didn't gel that well- mental health and women's empowerment just don't have many synergies.

It does seem weird that they didn't think through all of this when they started the foundation.

It would have caused far less comment for the Sussex's to always have had their own foundation.

From memory the more interesting tweet in the whole thing came from Giles Coren who moves in those circles. It was rapidly deleted though.

He's an attention seeking prat though.

How would we possibly know?

I think Harry's just growing up.

He has his own family now and his own life. It's very normal. And good to see.

@GhostsInSnow what did the tweet say?

I know someone (through mumsnet and then Facebook) who is a journalist for one of the big papers. They said a good few months ago that the papers are not allowed to comment but are using the term "Kate's royal rival " to describe Rose H, to give a nod to the affair /inappropriate relationship with William.

Sorry "rural rival"

@jennymanara it was deleted, but screenshot a million times.

Thanks.

It would have caused far less comment for the Sussex's to always have had their own foundation

That's true, but it would have caused comment whenever a separate foundation was started - and to be fair, the speed the Sussexes relationship moved at wouldn't have left much time for forward planning

Personally I'm more interested in how little of Charles's interests the boys have adopted. I get them wanting to forge their own path, but given the blizzard of charities their father's started I'd have thought there'd be something which might appeal

Maybe Charles wants to keep hold of them though. He is exactly the same age as my mum(born on the same day) and he is far more sprightly than her (unsurprisingly) so is a very fit 70. He is easily capable of keeping the Princes Trust and all the others going. It's the Queen and Doe that need taking over. I think Edward has a lot of involvement in the DoE Award now.