Prince William struggles to keep distance as Prince Harry’s return stirs up old wounds

Prince William had reportedly made his peace with the collapse of his relationship with Prince Harry, but the Duke of Sussex’s recent reunion with King Charles has unsettled him once again.

According to sources, the Prince of Wales went through all the stages of grief after the brothers fell out. At the time of Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, William was said to have been so distressed he stopped eating and even broke down in tears.

“Originally went through all the stages of grief over his brother. When they first fell out, he went to Balmoral and went off his food,” one insider told the Daily Mail. “Just before the Oprah chat screened, he wept. Then he turned to anger and when that stage was over, he simply compartmentalized it all and moved on.”

The source added that William had reached the point where Harry was no longer even on his radar. “William had got to the stage where Harry was a ‘non-person’, he had fallen so far beneath his radar as to have disappeared from his mind altogether. He never expected to be regularly in the same postcode as his brother again, like he was last week.”

Over time, his frustration cooled into indifference, which those close to him saw as healthier for his mental wellbeing. “For some time now, William’s anger had cooled to the point of indifference over his brother, which was healthy for his mental wellbeing,” another source explained.

But Harry’s return to the UK and his renewed contact with King Charles has brought him back into William’s life in a way the future king hadn’t anticipated. “Now Harry is back – back in the UK, back at Clarence House, back in touch with his father and back into the subject line of emails,” the insider added.

For William, who had worked hard to put emotional distance between himself and Harry, the Duke’s presence once again is reopening old wounds he thought had healed.