Prince William & Brother Harry Had Some Royally Normal Childhood Issues
Historically speaking, royal children lead insanely lavish lives. Because of this, we're all probably a little guilty of thinking we wouldn't be able to relate at all to them. This is at least partially true, especially if you didn't grow up with a full staff at your disposal. According to Town & Country magazine, Queen Elizabeth II left much of the childrearing to their nannies and governesses, which was a longstanding tradition in the royal family.
Princess Diana was the one who broke the mold, in fact. In the Channel 5 documentary, "Diana: A Mother's Love," author Piers Brendon labeled the late royal the "very model of a modern mummy," (via The Mirror). The rule-breaking princess famously took her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, just about everywhere with her and was proudly and very publicly their primary caretaker until her death.
Perhaps it's due to Diana's modern approach to raising her family that William and Harry had a childhood that was, quite shockingly, similar to what the rest of us probably remember about our own — including all the squabbles and drama. From sibling rivalry to causing trouble, the childhood tales of the now estranged brothers help to remind us that even royal kids have totally normal issues to deal with.
Prince William may have been jealous of his little brother
Anyone who grew up with siblings can tell you about a time in their childhood when they envied them for one reason or another. Admit it: Younger you just had to give the side eye to your sister as the adults fawned over her art project, and you couldn't help but feel a little jealous when your brother received a birthday gift you didn't know you wanted until you saw it in his hands.
Royals aren't immune to a bit of sibling drama, as Prince William and Prince Harry have proven in both their adult lives and, seemingly, their childhood too. During an appearance on Hello! magazine's "A Right Royal Podcast," Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana's former bodyguard, gave listeners an insider's scoop on what caused a slight rift between the two brothers when they were kids.
According to Wharfe, William didn't find his brother's silly behavior as endearing as everyone else around them did. "William was probably slightly jealous of Harry because of his popularity," Wharfe noted, adding, "[Harry] was a character. He was a jester, he was a joker, and people liked jokers. I think William was a little more reserved as a child, although he had his parts."
The princes were a real handful growing up
While William, Prince of Wales, and his younger brother, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, are both very prim and proper now, that wasn't always the case. The boys were rambunctious as children, as Ken Wharfe acknowledged. During his first meeting with Princess Diana, Wharfe said he received a teasing warning about the boys' misbehavior. He met the princess in her drawing room.
"I don't envy you, Ken, looking after my kids — they can be a bloody nuisance," Wharfe recalled Diana saying in an article for the Daily Mail. Both brothers, who were causing chaos at the time, quickly piped up to declare they were actually not nuisances before Harry fell off the table he'd been standing on, and they dramatically ran from the room with Diana hot on their heels.
Wharfe's hilarious first encounter with the royal siblings wasn't the last time he witnessed them getting into trouble either. Wharfe also protected the royal brothers during their early academic years. Although William evidently calmed down somewhat, in one of his mother's private letters from 1992, she wrote: "The boys are well and enjoying boarding school a lot, although Harry is constantly in trouble!" (via the Daily Mail).