The infamous royal rift between Prince William and Prince Harry has been going on for years now, but before their relationship became seriously strained, the brothers were known for being close. And, according to former royal butler Grant Harrold, that closeness even extended to William’s wife, Kate Middleton.
In his upcoming book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service, Harrold offers insider insight into what Harry and Kate’s relationship was like before the breakdown of the brothers’ bond.
“They involved him,” Harrold, writes in the upcoming book, according to an excerpt published by The Telegraph on Monday, Aug. 18. “He used to go out with Kate. William would be away, and Kate and Harry would be off doing stuff together.”
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While Will, Kate, and Harry were often seen out as a group of three, Harrold says that Harry and Kate also had a strong bond on their own, and were known to “go shopping” and “go to pubs” together.
“I think when people say, ‘Oh he was left out,’ he really wasn’t. But also, he was with Chelsy,” Harrold writes, referring to Harry’s ex-girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, who he dated off and on from 2004 through 2011. “Chelsy was always around. And Chelsy and Kate got on really well.”
Harry’s close bond with both Will and Kate was on full display at the couple’s wedding in 2011, where Harry served as best man and made a speech that reportedly made his sister-in-law tear up.
“It was affectionate, warm and funny and touched William deeply,” royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl wrote in her 2017 book Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, adding that the speech made Kate shed a tear. “When he said the couple’s decade-long romance was his inspiration, there was a shy smile from Chelsy, while Kate shed a tear.”
Even amid Harry’s issues with William, reports have suggested that he and Kate have maintained at least some of that old bond they shared. In 2021, a palace source said that Harry actually texted Kate directly to share the news with his family that he and his wife, Meghan Markle, had welcomed their daughter, Lilibet.
At the time, The Mail on Sunday reported that a Palace source said Harry sending the text message to Kate was a way of “cementing her role as a bridge between him and his brother.”