Two years before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit their royal duties, the now warring brothers bickered over a huge family upset at Easter time
07:00, 05 Apr 2026Updated 09:35, 05 Apr 2026
Prince William and Prince Harry have been estranged for many years(Image: Getty Images)
Two years before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left their royal roles behind and relocated to America, cracks were already starting to show between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family. Fast forward to now, and Harry is barely on speaking terms with his father King Charles, and he has not seen his brother or sister-in-law for several years.
In his explosive autobiography Spare, which was released in 2023, Harry detailed how the relationship between Harry and William was starting to fracture back in 2018, with an argument about a family Easter tradition escalating between the warring brothers.
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Prince Harry detailed a fight he had with William around Easter time in Spare(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
In his memoir, Harry recalled a day back in June 2018 when he and Meghan invited Kate and William to Nottingham Cottage for tea in order to establish why Kate and Meghan had “got off on the wrong foot”. Harry wrote: “For 10 minutes we did the classic small talk. How are the kids? How was your honeymoon?
“Meg then acknowledged the tension among the four of us and ventured that it might go back to those early days when she’d first joined the family – a misunderstanding that had almost passed without notice. Kate thought Meg had wanted her fashion contacts. But Meg had her own,” Harry added.
He continued: “They’d got off on the wrong foot perhaps? And then, Meg added, everything got magnified by the wedding, and those infernal bridesmaids’ dresses.”
However, it transpired that there was another issue bothering Prince William and Kate. According to Harry, a lack of Easter gifts that year had really struck a sour note with the couple.
The former ‘Fab Four’ gathered at Nottingham Cottage for peace talks in 2018(Image: PA)
“But it turned out there were other things… about which we’d been unaware. Willy and Kate were apparently upset that we hadn’t given them Easter presents,” the Duke continued.
“Easter presents? Was that a thing? Willy and I had never exchanged Easter presents. Pa always made a big deal about Easter, sure, but that was Pa. Still, if Willy and Kate were upset, we apologised.
“For our part, we chipped in that we weren’t too pleased when Willy and Kate switched place cards and changed seats at our wedding. We’d followed the American tradition, placing couples next to each other, but Willy and Kate didn’t like that tradition, so their table was the only one where spouses were apart.”
It is believed the warring brothers have not spoken in several years (Image: Martin Meissner/AP/REX/Shutterstock)
Fast-forward to present day, and the gulf between Harry and his family is wider than ever. Last year when the Duke of Sussex was in the UK for the annual WellChild awards in September, he had a 50-minute private tea with his father in Clarence House, marking their first meeting in 20 months.
While many hoped the meeting would initiate a reconciliation between Harry and his family, no other moves have been made. While Harry was in his home country, he did not see Prince William or Princess Kate, as it is believed William is still upset and angry at Harry over claims he made in Spare, as well as in the Sussexes 2022 Netflix docuseries and the 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
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