Prince William and Prince Harry‘s days of working together are officially over.
As the Duke of Sussex prepares for the arrival of his first son with wife Meghan Markle, and William continues on course to become the future king, rumors the brothers’ feud might have reignited after some palace staffers struggled with them drifting apart.
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“It was only going to work until they married — and it went on a while longer than perhaps was originally thought,” one palace source told PEOPLE of the royal brothers’ previous united front.
Meghan and Harry officially distanced themselves from William and wife Kate Middleton in March, after breaking up their joint “court” at Kensington Palace and planning their move out of the property.
The couple moved away from London to Windsor Castle’s Frogmore Cottage to reportedly lead a quieter life after the birth of their first child in the Spring. Meghan and Harry also made headlines after launching their own Instagram page.
“It’s a shame,” another insider told the magazine. “There was power in that unity and great strength in the foursome, but I see why it is happening. There is always that tension: trying to do the PR thing and then realizing that they are just real people. They want their own place and their own things.”
Despite the new distance between the siblings, sources say William and Harry will not be apart for long.
“There is never any doubt that they will be there for each other 100 percent and support each other when it matters,” a source told the outlet.
“Maybe they’ll come back together a little later,” the second source added. “It’s another stage in the growing up. Sometimes you have to break away in order to come back.”
The rumors of the siblings’ feud first surfaced earlier in 2019, when tabloids wrote a rivalry between Meghan and Kate was what led the foursome to stop making public appearances together. Later, speculation surfaced that it was actually Harry and William who started to disagree, leading to the separation of their offices.
“These are two boys who lost their mother [Princess Diana] at a really early age, and the fairy tale is that they are closer than ever, and need each other, and I think that’s probably true, but equally they are two grown men in their 30s, starting their own families, different wives, they are moving to different parts of the country, different duties,” royal expert Nick Bullen previously said.
He added: “It’s the two princes that don’t get on. The actual wives actually are still finding their feet or have found their feet, and they’re very happy in the situation they find themselves, but it’s the brothers themselves who have been closer than anybody up until now.”
