Friends of Prince William and Kate Middleton are hopeful that her current mystery condition may lead to a building of bridges between the Waleses and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, after reports surfaced that the Sussexes had privately sent Kate their best wishes for a speedy recovery from her abdominal surgery.
Friends of the Waleses believe that Kate is likely to be more receptive to the idea of re-establishing contact with Harry and Meghan than William, and she may be able to act as a peacemaker in bringing the feuding brothers together.
One old friend of Kate, William, and Harry, who went to school with the brothers but has not spoken regularly to Harry since he emigrated to America in 2020, told The Daily Beast: “Health problems do tend to put everything else in perspective. If Harry and Meghan have made an effort to reach out to Kate to offer their best wishes, Kate will reciprocate. William would quite happily never speak to either of them again, but Kate’s a peacemaker at heart. She would definitely be open to using this situation to build bridges. Never waste a good crisis, right?”
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While the lack of any public expression of good wishes from Harry and Meghan to either Kate or Charles has been a salutary reminder of just how bad things are between the Sussexes and Harry’s family—not helped by the allegedly accidental reveal in a Dutch edition of Omid Scobie’s Endgame that Kate and Charles were the alleged “royal racists” who questioned the color of then-unborn Prince Archie’s skin—another friend of the family said they see no reason to disbelieve reports in the Mirror that Harry and Meghan have extended an olive branch of best wishes for a speedy convalescence privately.
This friend said: “You have to remember that Kate and Harry were exceptionally close. He adored her, and she provided a sense of stability after the chaos of his youth. I actually can’t imagine a world in which he wouldn’t have sent her a note, despite everything.
“Everyone in the family has, frankly, had enough of the whole feud narrative. It’s way past time the whole thing was put to bed. Trust has been damaged, and I don’t think they are ever going to be calling each other for a heart to heart like the old days, but it’s time to move on.”
Kensington Palace did not respond to a request for comment on whether Kate had received a message from Harry and Meghan, and if she had responded or intended to.
However, there is little doubt that King Charles would hugely welcome friendly overtures from William and Kate to his younger son, as he has shown himself keen to promulgate an image of family unity in recent months, most notably by including the once-disgraced Sarah Ferguson in the family group walk to church on Christmas Day last month.
While there have been reports of phone calls with Charles in recent months, and good wishes have apparently also been sent to Charles who was due to be admitted to hospital this week for a procedure to correct a benign enlarged prostate, the idea that Harry might be ready to try and reconcile with his brother and Kate would represent a major milestone for Charles.
Robert Hardman, a trusted biographer of the king who has a new book out, The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, recently told The Daily Beast that he didn’t believe Harry was ever going to get an apology for what he alleges was poor treatment when they were working royals.
But that may no longer be the deal breaker Harry once suggested it was; Omid Scobie’s recent book Endgame made clear that Harry has dropped this demand as a precondition for reconciliation. According to Scobie, Harry told a friend of the whole affair, “I’m ready to move past it. Whether I get an apology or accountability, who knows? Who really cares at this point?”
Speaking to friends of the royals in recent months, it is quite clear that the extent of the breakdown in relations between William and his brother really cannot be underestimated. One friend previously told The Daily Beast that William “absolutely fucking hates” Harry.
Omid Scobie wrote in his book that a source “close to” Prince William had said, “There’s a huge amount of anger there. [William] feels betrayed and sad about the situation. But he also doesn’t agree with the things his brother feels he has done. He feels he has lost Harry and doesn’t want to know this version of him.”
But William is also enormously conscious of his responsibilities to the institution. While he may have his reservations about his father’s policy of putting family unity before all else, he probably also knows that in the very long run, few people are going to regard a king who doesn’t speak to his own brother as a solid role model, or a unifying example of the best of British.
The Windsors have always been good—too good some might say—at putting duty before personal considerations.
By making noises suggesting he would be open to reconciling with his brother, at least performatively, the ball is back in William’s court. The question will be whether William can subsume his personal anger and put his arm around his brother again—even if it is just for the cameras at first. William’s convalescing wife may be critical in helping him make that decision.
