Prince William Already Planning to Cut Harry out of Coronation, Report Claims

Prince William is looking ahead to the future of the British royal family, something that apparently won’t include his brother Prince Harry. Speaking to The Times, several people close to the brothers revealed that William “does not want Harry to come to his coronation” amid their royal rift. William is currently first in line to the British throne after his father, King Charles, ascended following Queen Elizabeth’s passing in September 2022.

When Charles was officially crowned in May 2023, something that both William and Harry attended, though they are said to have had little contact with one another, William reportedly began thinking of his own eventual coronation. Friends said he made it clear that he wanted his own coronation to “look and feel different.” Details of his eventual crowning are unclear, but one major difference will reportedly be the absence of his brother, with friends telling The Times that William has stated “he would not want his brother at his coronation.”

Although a close friend of both royal brothers said they “always said the brothers would be there for each other at the end of the day,” that friend conceded that “that’s been proven wrong so far.” In fact, it seems that the hope that the two brothers will one day reconcile may be dwindling by the day. William and Harry are now said to be completely “estranged” and reportedly have not spoken since the Queen’s funeral, when they “barely exchanged a word.”

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have been locked in a high-profile royal rift with the rest of the British royal family, the couple officially stepping back as senior royals in 2020. In the years that followed, Harry made numerous troubling claims of his time as a working royal, writing in his 2023 memoir Spare that he got into a physical fight with William over Meghan. The couple also made suggestions of racism within the royal family in their 2019 interview with Oprah Winfrey. With William looking ahead to a future within the royal family without his brother’s support, friends now fear that reconciliation is off the table, though Harry is reportedly maintaining hope.

As questions remain and rumors swirl about the state of their relationship, both William and Harry are said to be turning to their families. A source said that for William, “this year his focus has very much been on his wife, his children and his father. His brother isn’t really something that’s discussed.” Meanwhile, The Times noted that Harry seems to be “finding meaning in fatherhood” at his home in California with Markle and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.