Prince William Recalls Childhood Memory With Prince Harry in Rare Comment About Brother Amid Rift

Prince William made a rare comment about Prince Harry amid their rift by recalling a fond childhood memory he shared with his younger brother.

In a Saturday, October 26, preview for the documentary Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the future king recounted a time when his late mother, Princess Diana, took him to visit The Passage, a charity that supports homeless people or those at risk of homelessness in the UK.

“My mother took me to The Passage. She took Harry and I both there. I must have been 11 at the time, maybe 10,” William, 42, said. “I had never been to anything like that before and I was a bit anxious about what to expect.”

William explained that the experience helped him realize that he had a more privileged upbringing than most. “My mother went about her usual – making everyone feel relaxed, having a laugh, and joking with everyone,” he continued. “I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘Well, if everyone doesn’t have a home, they’re all going to be really sad.’ But it was incredible how happy an environment it was.”

He added, “I remember having some good conversations, playing chess, chatting, and that’s when it dawned on me that there were other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do. You know, when you’re quite small, you just think life is what you see in front of you and you don’t really have concept to look elsewhere. It’s when you meet people, as I did then, who put a different perspective in your head and say, ‘Well, I was living on the street last night.’ And you’re like, ‘Whoa.’ I remember that happening.”

Many have said that this is William’s first time publicly speaking about Harry, 40, since the Duke of Sussex left the royal family in 2020 and moved to North America with wife Meghan Markle and their son, Archie (the two later welcomed daughter Lilibet in 2021).

Meanwhile, Harry has spoken about his strained relationship with William and other members of the royal family in a memoir, Spare, documentary, and during a televised interview on CBS. “There has always been this competition between us, weirdly,” Harry admitted in Spare.

He also accused his older brother of once physically attacking him. He said the alleged incident happened after William referred to Meghan, 43, as “difficult,” “rude,” and “abrasive.” Harry claimed that William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and… knocked me to the floor.”

In the 2021 CBS interview, Harry admitted that he and William were giving each other “space” at the time. However, he didn’t rule out a reconciliation in the future, adding, “You know, time heals all things … hopefully.”

In early 2023, he shared a similar sentiment, telling Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, “Without the British press as part of this, we would probably still be a fairly dysfunctional family like a lot are. But at the heart of it, there is a family, without question. And I really look forward to having that family element back. I look forward to having a relationship with my brother. I look forward to having a relationship with my father and other members of my family.”