Prince Harry’s Breakups With His Ex-Girlfriends Made Him More Resentful of Prince William, Author Claims
It’s no secret that Prince Harry and Prince William currently have a rift. According to some royal experts, the two brothers—who were once close—have been growing apart for years now. In fact, a royal author alleged that Harry’s breakups with his ex-girlfriends fueled resentment toward William.
Prince Harry had 2 serious girlfriends before marrying Meghan Markle
Harry has been married to Meghan Markle since 2018. However, before he settled down with his current wife, Harry had two serious relationships that were followed by the media.
From 2004 to 2010, Harry was in an on-and-off relationship with Chelsy Davy. Then, from 2012 to 2014, Harry dated Cressida Bonas.
Both of these relationships ended reportedly because Davy and Bonas could not stand the attention that came with dating Harry. For example, Davy said in 2016 (via Daily Mail), “It was so full-on: crazy and scary and uncomfortable. I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn’t cope… I was trying to be a normal kid and it was horrible.”
Bonas has not publicly talked about the breakup, but author Robert Lacey alleged in the book Battle of Brothers that she was “completely spooked” when seeing how much the public expected out of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Author claims the breakups made Prince Harry more resentful of Prince William
According to author Tina Brown, Harry’s breakups with Davy and Bonas made him resentful of what William had.
“He was desperate to get married, desperate, and he felt bitter, because unlike William who had found his love in the sort of bubble of St. Andrews University, unfortunately, Harry didn’t,” Brown said (via The Washington Post). “He was in the army. It was much harder for him. And so his first two girlfriends were driven away by the press, really, the two serious girlfriends, Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas–beautiful, fabulous young women, both of them, who Harry was mad about.”
Brown continued, “I mean, he could have easily married either of them, and it was thought that he might. But they were always just in the end driven away by the horror of being stalked and hacked, and you know, eavesdropped … And he was bitter about that. So that sort of increased his resentment. He felt he was getting all the bad things about being royal without the upside that William got.”
Prince Harry reportedly wanted to be equal to Prince William
William has always been the heir to the throne, while Harry is merely thought of as a “spare.” However, according to Brown, Harry did not accept this and wanted to be equal to his older brother.
“He felt that he’d always been raised with William as equals, essentially, by Diana,” Brown said. “And the difference is, you know, how Andrew and Charles had about a 10-year age gap between them. Andrew never really saw himself as sort of Charles’s peer in that sense. He was always the kid brother … But William and Harry were very close, only two years between them.”
In 2021, Harry also appeared in the docuseries The Me You Can’t See, where he talked about his unhappiness in the royal family. In one part of the series, he said, “I’ve seen behind the curtain, I’ve seen the business model and seen how this whole thing works and I don’t want to be part of this.”
He has since stepped down as a senior royal. Harry and Meghan are now living in California and pursuing careers that are independent of the royal family.
