Kate Middleton Likely Pushed Prince William to Wish Harry a Happy Birthday, Expert Says
In a surprising turn, Prince William and Kate Middleton wished Prince Harry a happy birthday when he turned 40 on Sept. 15, 2024. It probably happened, according to a royal commentator, after the Princess of Wales “persuaded” the Prince of Wales to acknowledge his estranged brother’s special day publicly considering her own “new perspective” on life.
William and Kate wished Harry a happy 40th birthday on social media
Following King Charles III’s own birthday shoutout to his youngest son, the Duke of Sussex, on the royal family’s official social media channels came an acknowledgment from William and Kate.
The couple reposted the king’s message to Harry—“Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!”— on X, which featured a 2018 photo of him in Ireland alongside a brief message. They also added a few words of their own for Harry, writing: “Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex!”
However, William and Kate didn’t sign off with their initials as is typically the case when remarks on social media come directly from them. So, chances are they approved the text likely written by a member of their staff.
Still, the happy birthday message is significant, considering it hasn’t happened in years amid the ongoing frostiness between William and Harry. Per the Mail, although the royal family’s said not to mark non-working royals’ birthdays online, acknowledging Harry’s big day happened as part of their “tradition” of doing exactly that on “significant” birthdays.
Kate may be behind William’s ‘slight softening’ with Harry birthday post
According to former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, Kate may have played a role in making the Wales’ happy birthday post for Harry happen.
“My gut feeling is that Catherine was influential in this slight softening of her husband‘s implacable stand,” Bond wrote via the Mirror before referencing the 42-year-old’s Sept. 9 video about being cancer-free following chemotherapy.
“In the film she made about the end of her chemotherapy, she told how cancer had given her a new perspective. What clearly matters to her more now is family, loving, and being loved. Perhaps she has persuaded William that life is too short for grudges.”
“Birthday wishes posted on the main Royal Family website are also a sign of a possible thaw in relations between Harry and his father,” she added.
Kate’s ‘loyal’ to William despite wanting the feud with Harry to end
However great Kate’s desire to see William and Harry end their feud, she’s sticking by her husband. “Kate was close to Harry, true,” Christopher Andersen, a royal author, previously told Fox News Digital (via Yahoo Entertainment). “They had a special bond. They shared the same goofy sense of humor and laughed at the same jokes. Harry often said Kate was the sister he never had.”
“Of course, Kate would like nothing better than to have the brothers kiss and make up,” he continued. “It would be one less cloud hanging over the royal family’s head. But above all else, Kate is loyal to her husband. She understands completely why William is still fuming. Kate is not about to pressure William while he has so much on his plate, notably her cancer and the king’s cancer battle as well.”
“The last time Harry was at Balmoral Castle was in September 2022, when his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth [II], died there,” Andersen added. “His absence from Balmoral this summer is just one more sign that the royal family—Kate included—prefer to have Harry out of sight and out of mind for the time being.”
He also noted how Kate memorably tried to give William and Harry a moment alone at Prince Philip’s April 2021 funeral. “When that didn’t work, Kate continued to try and soften up her husband,” the author said. “But Kate understandably threw up her hands when Harry trashed William and Charles in his memoir ‘Spare’ two years later.”
