Prince Harry: Experts discuss 'falling out' with Prince William

Prince William has taken lessons from the Queen from a young age and has been greatly influenced by her, according to royal expert Robert Lacey. The royal author has claimed the monarch had an impact so great on her grandson and heir it overshadows Prince Charles’s influence on his firstborn.

The Duke of Cambridge has shown to share similarities with the Queen last year, when rumours of a feud with his brother Prince Harry became louder and louder, according to Mr Lacey.

While Prince Harry confessed during an interview with Tom Bradby he and his brother were “on different paths”, the Duke of Cambridge never openly spoke about allegations of a rift.

Mr Lacey told Elle magazine: “William has pretended it hasn’t happened, and he’s an old-style royal in that sense.”

Speaking more in-depth about the bond between Prince William and Queen Elizabeth II, the expert added: “He’s taken lessons from his grandmother, and this is something of a patent in the Royal Family. 

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“Queen Elizabeth II took her lessons from her grandmother, Queen Mary.

“In the same way, William looks to his grandmother, Elizabeth II.

“William has been much more influenced by his grandmother than he ever has been by his father.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to break away from the Royal Family, the expert noted, have been instrumental in bringing closer Charles and William. 

Mr Lacey said: “That’s one of the things we’ve discovered – until recently, the rift in the family has brought father and son together.”

Father and son were photographed joking together during a joint engagement carried out in February last year, shortly after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intention to step back as senior royals.

During their royal visit to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall in Loughborough, Prince Charles was seen supporting and cheering for Prince William as he attempted to shoot a ball into the net from a wheelchair.

At the time, royal author Sally Bedell Smith told Vanity Fair: “One sensed a spontaneous warmth between them.” 

Saying the timing of this engagement “spoke volumes”, she added: “Apart from the very visible bond, there’s plenty of evidence indicating a closer alignment between Charles and William.

“During the crisis over Prince Andrew’s scandals last year, both the Queen and Prince Charles ensured that Prince William played an active role in the decision-making.

“That cooperation was also apparent in hammering out an agreement with Harry and Meghan to leave their official duties with the Royal Family.”

Prince William took part in the meeting at Sandringham alongside with his father, brother and grandmother in January last year to thrash out the terms of the so-called Megxit deal.

Mr Lacey has previously spoken about how close Prince William got to his grandmother during his years at Eton. 

In his book Battle of Brothers, the author claimed the Queen and Prince Philip were worried the messy separation of the Waleses could have an impact on the wellbeing of Prince William.

This pushed Prince Philip to “intervene” and host every few Sundays his grandson, the author claimed.

Mr Lacey said: “Philip shared his wife’s concerns and he suggested that she overcome her longstanding aversion to involvement in messy family matters by trying to get closer to this particular boy – who was not just her grandson, but a future inheritor of her crown.

“Perhaps the lad could come up and join them both in the castle from time to time on a Sunday, when the Eton boys were allowed out into the town and so the lunches had begun.” 

Describing the lunches, which contributed to strengthening the bond between the young heir and the monarch, Mr Lacey said: “Pudding ended, Philip would make a discreet exit, leaving his wife and grandson together in the panelled Oak Room with its six-arm chandelier hanging over the table in front of Queen Victoria’s beautiful Gobelins tapestry of The Hunt.

“In this splendid and historic but also intimate setting, grandmother and grandson – monarch and future heir – would get down to brass tacks, talking and ‘sharing’ as only the pair of them could.”

During these meetings, William was introduced to the Queen’s strong sense of duty, the author claimed, saying: “It was during these conversations in the Oak Room that Prince William learned from his grandmother how the institution of the Crown was something to be upheld and respected, and how one might have to fight – he might have to become white tough, in fact – in order to preserve it.

“It was William’s birthright and legacy, after all, as much as his gran’s.”   

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