Long before the public accusations, the television interviews and the Netflix documentaries, the tension between Prince Harry and Prince William — and between Meghan Markle and Catherine, Princess of Wales — had already begun to take shape.
According to multiple accounts, the roots of the now-entrenched rift can be traced back to something deceptively ordinary: a visit to a home.
What followed that visit, royal biographers suggest, was not a single argument or dramatic fallout, but a slow-burning resentment — one fuelled by differences in expectation, lifestyle and attitude toward hierarchy inside the Royal Family.
A family divide that predates Megxit
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their roles as senior royals in 2020 and relocated to the United States with their son Archie, the move was widely portrayed as the breaking point.
In reality, tensions between the Sussexes and the Prince and Princess of Wales had been building for years.
The March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey — in which Harry and Meghan spoke candidly about royal life, family relationships and Meghan’s mental health — merely brought those tensions into the open.
By then, according to royal insiders, the relationship between the two couples was already severely strained.
The Kensington Palace visit
In Spare, Prince Harry describes an early visit Meghan made to William and Catherine’s apartment at Kensington Palace — a moment he now portrays as quietly pivotal.
Harry recalls Meghan’s reaction as they walked through the property, noting her visible surprise at the scale and comfort of the home occupied by the heir to the throne and his wife.
“We arrived in the late afternoon,” Harry wrote.
“I noticed Meg’s eyes widen as we stepped through the front door, passed the living room, went down the corridor and into the study. ‘Wow,’ Meg said more than once.”
The scene is presented as observational rather than confrontational. Yet the detail has taken on greater significance in retrospect.
Perception, hierarchy — and entitlement
Royal commentators argue that the moment revealed a fundamental clash in worldview.
Within the monarchy, hierarchy is not just accepted — it is institutionalised. William, as the future king, was always destined to live differently, to be housed differently, and to receive different levels of support.
Harry, however, has long argued that the disparity went beyond constitutional necessity and veered into personal unfairness.
According to his account, Meghan was taken aback not simply by the luxury itself, but by what it represented — a visible hierarchy between two brothers raised together.
Royal biographer Robert Jobson, writing about the Princess of Wales, referenced similar accounts, stating that Meghan appeared genuinely surprised by the contrast between the brothers’ living arrangements.
Another source, quoted by The Independent, said:
“I’m not saying Meghan was jealous, but she was genuinely surprised at how much more lavish William’s life was compared with Harry’s.”
The source added that this moment may have marked “the beginning of the tension between the two couples”.
A clash of cultures
For those familiar with royal protocol, the reaction itself was revealing.
Catherine, who entered the Royal Family gradually and spent years adjusting to its structures, has long been described as accepting of hierarchy and institutional constraint.
Meghan, by contrast, came from a background where status was less rigidly defined — and where questioning systems was culturally acceptable.
That difference, insiders suggest, created friction early on.
What to one couple was simply the natural order of monarchy, to the other felt like inequality.
From unease to open conflict
The unease did not remain confined to private impressions.
Harry later described a confrontation in 2018 in which William allegedly criticised Meghan’s behaviour, calling her “rude” and “difficult”.
The argument, which Harry claims escalated into a physical altercation, has been strongly disputed by sources close to Prince William, but its inclusion in Spare further cemented the image of a relationship beyond repair.
By the time the Sussexes left Britain, the division between the brothers was no longer a matter of speculation — it was widely acknowledged.
Public narrative versus private reality
What makes this early domestic episode so significant is how often it has been revisited — directly or indirectly — in the Sussexes’ public storytelling.
The Netflix series, the Oprah interview and Spare all return to the same core themes:
- perceived inequality,
- lack of protection,
- and the sense of being marginalised within the institution.
Critics argue that these grievances, while deeply personal, are framed in a way that challenges the monarchy’s foundational logic — one that depends on accepted hierarchy rather than emotional parity.
Why the wound never healed
For supporters of Prince William and Catherine, the narrative is straightforward: hierarchy is not cruelty, and structure is not hostility.
From that perspective, the reaction to the Kensington Palace visit is seen less as an injustice and more as a misunderstanding — or a refusal to accept how the monarchy works.
For critics of Harry and Meghan, the moment symbolises something else entirely: the point at which private comparison turned into public resentment.
Once that resentment was voiced publicly, they argue, trust could not be rebuilt.
Where the brothers stand now
Today, Prince William has moved firmly into his role as heir, projecting stability alongside Catherine as they represent the future of the monarchy.
Prince Harry, meanwhile, continues to speak of forgiveness and reconciliation — while the accounts that deepened the rift remain on record, unwithdrawn.
There have been no confirmed private reconciliations, no joint engagements, and no visible thaw.
A visit that echoes through history
In isolation, a reaction to a home visit might seem trivial.
In the context of monarchy — where symbolism, hierarchy and perception are everything — it was anything but.
What began as a moment of surprise inside a palace apartment has become, in hindsight, one of the earliest visible cracks in a family relationship that now defines an era of royal history.
The fallout did not come from one argument, one interview or one documentary.
It began quietly — with a look around a room, and a realisation that life inside the Royal Family was never going to feel equal.
And once that realisation took hold, the damage proved impossible to contain.
