They were once inseparable. But the bad blood between Princes Harry and William now runs deep – and pals even fear Wills will never get over the ‘betrayal’ he feels over his younger brother’s actions. Tensions have been high between the royals and Prince Harry ever since he left the UK to start a new life in America in 2020 with his wife Meghan Markle and their son Archie, now four. And rather than fade into the background in the US, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who also welcomed daughter Lilibet two years ago, have fuelled the fire by making scathing public statements about their treatment from Harry’s family – including his older brother and sister-in-law, Kate Middleton.

In their now infamous sitdown interview with close friend Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan, 41, cleared up the rumour that she had made Kate cry in the run up to her 2018 wedding to Harry. “The reverse happened,” she said. “A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining to flower girl dresses. And it made me cry. It really hurt my feelings, and I thought in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, it didn’t make sense to not be just doing whatever everyone else is doing, which was trying to be supportive knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot.”

While that is sure to have damaged relations in the once tight-knit ‘Fab Four’, in January this year, Harry, 38, released his memoir Spare – in which he detailed an incident where he and William had had a physical altercation after he spectacularly lost his cool and called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.

“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me,” Harry recalled in his book. “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.” He reiterated the comments in an interview with CBS, adding, “It was a build-up of frustration, I think, on his part.”

And now an insider tells Closer, “William is so upset about the situation, but tries not to talk about it. That’s admirable to a degree – he doesn’t want to inflict negativity or sadness on others – but it comes at the cost of holding onto resentment and only amplifies how affected he is and, ultimately, angry. When he does let go it’s not pretty, and he’s had some serious episodes and meltdowns of late, tearing into the Sussexes and sulking for days in a super withdrawn and sullen state of mind.

“Everyone’s being patient and trying to encourage him to keep letting his feelings out, not bottle them up inside and walk around with this dark angry cloud over him. But it’s so hard, he’s ultimately lost his brother and still can’t move past all the damage that’s been done.”

The insider also says that there is a growing air of resentment which William is feeling towards his father, King Charles III, after Harry was invited to join the rest of the family at the Coronation last month. While some members of the royals seemed pleased to see the Duke of Sussex, the source says William found it very difficult to put on a happy face – which was seen when the Waleses, along with their children Princess Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Prince Louis, were spotted having what appeared to be an argument in the carriage on the way to Westminster Abbey.

“William still finds it staggering and impossible to comprehend how the Sussexes have continued to be tolerated – even at a distance – by his father and other sections of the royal family after all the pain and turmoil they’ve created,” the insider continues. “He was totally against Harry being invited to the Coronation, but of course he couldn’t stand in the way of the King’s wishes and so he bit his lip and reluctantly accepted the decision whilst keeping as far away from him as possible.”

The insider adds, “That didn’t make it any less uncomfortable for him though, especially when he saw Harry smirking his way through the whole event then skulking back to LA as quickly as he possibly could. It’s crystal clear to William that his brother isn’t sorry for what he’s done in the slightest – and to add insult to injury he’s still popping up like a bad smell and rubbing it in. His behaviour and attitude just beggars belief for William at this point, and he’s finding it almost impossible to just move on and let it go.”

But although William’s outbursts may be becoming public knowledge, his wife of 12 years Kate – who is also mother to his eldest son Prince George, nine – is standing by him.

“There’s a lot of sympathy towards his situation, everyone knows how much he adored his little brother and it’s an ongoing nightmare for him to process their estrangement as well as what’s been said and done,” the source adds. “He’s just not the type to flick a switch and find himself capable of cutting Harry out of his life and thoughts – he still loves him deeply and always will do, which is what makes it all so hard to take. The most maddening thing of all for William is seeing this hold Meghan seems to have on his brother. He’s totally under this woman’s spell and willing to sacrifice everything, including his own dignity, to be her loyal lapdog – or that’s how it comes across. William just doesn’t get it. It’s all so infuriating and eating away at him all the time, however calm and pragmatic he tries to be.”