For some relationships, forgiveness, and acceptance can be difficult to find. For Prince Harry and Prince William, there appears to be a great deal of reconciliation still to come.
Finding Freedom co-author Omid Scobie recently spoke with ET‘s Nischelle Turner and addressed the highly publicized drama between the brothers in the wake of Harry’s exit from royal duties and his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
“The relationship between Harry and William is still very much one of distance,” Scobie said. “I don’t just mean physical [distance], across the Atlantic, but they are not talking that much, and that is exactly how sources close to William have put it.”
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Among the royal family, Scobie said there are “still feelings of anger” toward Harry and Meghan Markle over “the way the couple carried out their departure from their royal lives,” and the experience is something William “has not been able to come to terms with yet.”
While the brothers have made public appearances together over the past year and appeared cordial in one another’s company, the instances are testaments to their ability to put aside personal grievances for the sake of a bigger cause.
“Both sides are able to put everything to one side when it comes to focusing on the bigger, more important moments — whether that is, of course, remembering the life of Prince Philip, next year’s Royal Jubilee [or] most importantly to the brothers, remembering and honoring the life and legacy of their mother,” said Scobie, referring to William and Harry’s appearance at the unveiling of a statue of their late mother, Princess Diana, back in June.
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“Unfortunately, that has not led to any sort of bigger movement,” Scobie said. “These are still two brothers who aren’t in regular communication, or in much communication at all, and I think they remain on these very different paths.”
Scobie added that, for the foreseeable future, he feels people are “not going to see much change there.”
“They are very different men. And I think that William has certainly become someone who is really living his life for the crown, for the institution,” Scobie said. “Harry has really sort of gone completely in the opposite direction.”
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“They will never see eye to eye,” he added, “and until both sides can acknowledge that, they will never move forward.”
Scobie said Harry’s relationship with his father, Prince Charles, seems to be in a similar place, with the pair communicating through “some light conversations,” but not much closeness.
“There are people who have grown up in an institution, that is all they know, they live the crown. So to try to understand someone that broke away from that is something that people are still struggling to come to terms with,” Scobie shared. “I think Harry, as he continues to thrive in his new life, has absolutely no regrets about the way in which he did it, or the decisions in which he made, and that does create this very big gap between the two sides.”
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According to Scobie, all of the interactions Harry and William have had amid reports of their feuding have been brief, at public events, where they did whatever they could to not let their own relationship overshadow the event they were attending. Therefore, conversations have been brief and formal.
“There’s gonna have to be an effort where they step outside that and actually make time to talk properly,” Scobie said. “Otherwise, we’re gonna stay in this situation for a very long time.”
Scobie’s Finding Freedom, which details Meghan and Harry’s decision to step down as senior members of the royal family, is out now in a paperback edition, with an added epilogue.