Prince William’s last-ditch effort to mend feud with Harry and Meghan

Before Harry and Meghan dropped their bombshell, William tried to mend the rift with his brother that had dominated headlines for months.

Prince William tried to heal the rift with Prince Harry after last autumn’s ITV documentary about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but a showdown didn’t happen, it is reported.

William reached out to his estranged brother after Meghan Markle, 38, and Harry, 35, opened up about royal life to ITV’s Tom Bradby, it is claimed.

According to The Evening Standard, William wanted to meet Harry at Frogmore Cottage, the Sussexes’ Windsor home, after the hour-long show aired in October.

But a meeting to mend the “Fab Four” division between William, 37, and Kate Middleton, 38, and Harry and Meghan failed to take place.

The ‘Fab Four’ was short-lived. Picture: Stephen Pond/Getty Images

Harry confirmed a feud with his brother William in October’s bombshell documentary, admitting the brothers are “on different paths”.

In the ITV show, Meghan slammed the British stiff upper lip tradition as “damaging”, prompting sources close to William to suggest the couple are “fragile”.

‘FRAGILE’ HARRY

Following the documentary, royal insiders revealed Prince Harry was “not in great shape” and his relationship with Prince William was “fractious”.

A senior Kensington Palace source said William was genuinely worried for Harry and Meghan after their emotional TV interview and hoped they were “all right”.

But a source close to Harry responded by telling The Sun he had “never been stronger”.

William and Harry didn’t see each other in private for six months following Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding, it’s been claimed.

The brothers were once very close. Picture: AFP Photo/Pool/Owen Humphreys

The Sun’s royal correspondent Emily Andrews revealed how “behind the scenes” their relationship had “been up and down”.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex married at Windsor Castle in May 2018, where the Duke of Cambridge was best man, his son Prince George a page boy and his daughter Princess Charlotte a flower girl.

“I was told, after the royal wedding, Harry and Meghan didn’t see Kate and William personally,” said Andrews.

Despite both couples living at Kensington Palace at the time, it’s said they didn’t see each other privately for six months and only met in a formal capacity, including at Trooping the Colour and Princess Eugenie’s wedding.

Meghan, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a military fly-past to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 2018. Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP

FAB FOUR CLASH

Towards the end of 2018, it was reported that Meghan and her sister-in-law Kate had clashed.

However, it was revealed shortly afterwards that the royal feud was actually primarily between William and Harry.

The Sun also reported how Harry and Meghan, who welcomed baby son Archie three weeks ago, had decided to move to Windsor because they “didn’t want to live next door to William and Kate”.

In March last year, the Cambridges and Sussexes ran separate Instagram accounts after the splitting of their joint royal household.

Prince Charles was said to be “absolutely furious” that the row between Harry and the rest of the royal family was undermining his work overseas as well as his own TV documentary.

Royal sources told The Sun that the Prince of Wales was worried about his youngest son Harry in the same way he used to fear for his ex-wife Princess Diana.

Staff at Clarence House were also said to be disappointed that a two-part ITV program Prince Charles: Inside the Duchy of Cornwall was virtually ignored following Harry and Meghan’s ITV documentary.

The Queen had urged Harry and William to rise above their issues and focus on their strong family ties.

But she didn’t want to be dragged into the mess and deferred to Charles to help bring her grandsons back together.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission