Why Prince William Terrified Prince Harry Over His Decision To Leave The Royal Family

Rumors of a rift between Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his older brother William, Prince of Wales, have been spreading like wildfire since Harry and Meghan chose to step down as working Royals and relocate to Canada (and later to the U.S.). But now, thanks to revelations made by Harry in his newly-released docuseries on Netflix, Harry and Meghan, we now know that these rumors were not unfounded. They were based in very real truth (via People). 

In a candid and open conversation, Prince Harry becomes visibly emotional when discussing what happened when he told his family that he and his wife planned to relocate to get away from the ceaseless coverage of the British media, which was impeding the couple's ability to live comfortably and was also poorly affecting Meghan's mental health. After Harry had made his intentions known via an email to his father, the then-Prince Charles, current King Charles III, the late Queen Elizabeth II called an urgent meeting to discuss what the new role of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be. 

And it was during this meeting, Harry says, that he experienced a side of his brother William he had not seen before. 

The meeting that The Queen requested took place on January 13, 2020 between Prince Harry, Prince William, their father the then-Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II (via People). The conversation lasted about an hour-and-a-half according to Harry. 

When Harry arived at the meeting, he says he was given five options as to the course he and Meghan could take. "One being 'all in, no change,' five being 'all out'," he explained. "I chose option three in the meeting. Half in, half out; have our own jobs but also work in support of the Queen." But he did not receive the reaction he expected to what he had felt was a middle-ground, agreeable compromise. His brother William shouted at him. 

 "It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that simply weren't true and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in," Harry said. 

The whole experience was further distressing to him since his wife, Meghan, had not been invited to this discussion that would, for the most part, determine the direction of her life and future. 

In the newly-released second installment of the Netflix series Meghan and Harry, while the couple is discussing this upsetting experience that Harry had when meeting with his family to determine how he and his wife would proceed, Harry turned to Meghan and said of her exclusion from the meeting, "It was clear to me that they planned out so that you weren't in the room" (via People). 

To which Meghan replied, explaining to her audience, "Imagine a conversation, a roundtable discussion about the future of your life ... When the stakes are this high. And you as the mom and the wife and the target, in many regards, aren't invited to have a seat at the table."

Harry went on to explain that he left the meeting deeply saddened, saying, "The saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother, so that he's now on the institution's side," he said. "Part of that I get, I understand, right, that's his inheritance. So to some extent, it's already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and continuation of this institution."