Prince William’s “significant” move has marked a milestone in his “deep rift” with estranged brother Prince Harry, it has been claimed.
The Prince of Wales named his brother publicly for the first time in six years during a new ITV documentary, which focuses on the future King’s work to tackle homelessness.
In the documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the 42-year-old recalled visiting homeless shelters as a child with his mother, Princess Diana.
Shedding light on how his late mother has inspired his current projects, the Prince revealed: “I have taken some inspiration and guidance from what my mother did, particularly with homelessness. And that’s grown more over the last few years.
Prince William mentioned his estranged brother for the first time in six years during a new ITV documentary
ITV / Getty
“She took Harry and I both there – I must have been about 11, I think probably… Maybe 10. I’d never been to anything like that before.”
Analysing the documentary on GB News, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams noted the “significance” of William’s mention of his brother after several years, and how the move could suggest an improvement in their “deep rift”.
Fitzwilliams admitted: “It’s significant that he has mentioned Harry. He hasn’t mentioned Harry in any speech or any comment, apparently, since 2018. So let us see where this develops.
“That’s all I could say at the moment, because as we know, there’s a very, very deep rift between the two brothers, and Spare has only just been re-published in paperback.”
The Prince of Wales is starring a new documentary about his work with the homeless
ITV
Echoing Fitzwilliams’s mention of Harry’s memoir Spare, host Dawn Neesom argued that the Duke’s decision not to add any additional passages could be seen as his own “olive branch” to the Royal Family, his brother in particular.
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Fitzwilliams responded: “No, but he threatened to. If you go back to January of last year, he talked about removing 400 pages from Spare because it was too sensitive – and that was seen as a threat.
“Yes, it would normally be expected that there would be some elaboration, and of course he didn’t. He also didn’t give any interviews promoting it, which would have been absolutely appalling if he had.”
Criticising Spare further, Fitzwilliams added: “With two members of the Royal Family battling cancer and the situation as difficult as it is with the Royal Family, the whole memoir, in my opinion, was misconceived.
“It was a bestseller, there’s no question about that. But there’s no doubt also that it was not good judgment on Harry’s part for a variety of reasons.”
Richard Fitzwilliams told GB News that it is ‘too early to tell’ if Harry will publicly react to the documentary
GB News
The documentary will also feature new and previously unseen pictures of Prince William, Prince Harry and their mother, Princess Diana – including a trip to The Passage homeless shelter in 1993.
When asked by Dawn how he believes Harry would feel about being mentioned in the documentary, Fitzwilliams claimed: “It comes back to a point I’ve always made that since they stepped down as senior working royals, the Sussexes have never said anything that is positive about the Royal Family, about the Commonwealth, or about their experiences.
“Any reaction Harry may have and whether we would know about it, it’s too early to tell.”
