Despite the ongoing feud between royal brothers Prince William and Prince Harry, Kate Middleton has always been close with her brother-in-law and was his ‘bridge’ to the family
Kate was seen as the bridge between the feuding brothers(Image: PA)
While Prince William and Prince Harry have been at odds for several years now, the brothers didn’t always have such a strained relationship.
In fact, prior to their rift, it wasn’t just William and Harry who were exceptionally close; Harry and his sister-in-law Kate Middleton also had an exceptional bond. Now, former royal butler Grant Harrold has shared his own experience of just how close the pair were before Harry became distant from his family following his marriage to Meghan Markle.
Writing in his book, The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service, Grant gave his insider view of what Harry and Kate’s relationship was like before his relationship with brother William broke down. He explained, “They involved him. 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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The trio were often seen enjoying each others company and stepping out as a three, but Grant says even when William wasn’t around, Harry and Kate would on occasion “go shopping” and “go to pubs” together.
Kate had a close relationship with Harry before the family feud(Image: Getty Images)
The bond even dated back as far as when Harry was dating ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy between 2004 and 2011. Grant shared, “I think when people say, ‘Oh he was left out,’ he really wasn’t. But also, he was with Chelsy. Chelsy was always around. And Chelsy and Kate got on really well.”
The bond was evident when in 2011 William and Kate got married, with Harry taking on the important role of his brother’s best man and delivering a speech which reportedly made his sister-in-law tear up. Royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl shared in her 2017 book Harry: Life, Loss, and Love how the speech caused high emotions.
She wrote, “It was affectionate, warm and funny and touched William deeply. When he said the couple’s decade-long romance was his inspiration, there was a shy smile from Chelsy, while Kate shed a tear.”
Kate Middleton, Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before their feud tore them apart
Despite Harry’s ongoing issues with William and the rest of his family, there have still been reports that he has maintained a connection with Kate thanks to their previous close bond.
In 2021 a palace source claimed that Harry had texted Kate to let her and the rest of the family know that he and wife Meghan had welcomed their baby daughter, Lilibet.
The Mail on Sunday reported at the time that a source from the Palace had revealed he had sent the text and that they said choosing to loop Kate in with it was his way of “cementing her role as a bridge between him and his brother.”
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