Harry and William’s relationship is now ‘hanging by a thread’ as King tries to keep line open

The relationship between the Prince of Wales and his estranged brother “hangs by a thread” ahead of the release of Harry’s tell-all memoirs, the sources said.

Experts fear the strained relationship between the brothers will be further damaged by the attacks on Prince William and his wife Kate in the controversial book, due to be published next week.

The memoir is said to be ‘hard on William’ and includes a description of a fight between the brothers, as well as ‘a barrage’ against Kate.

The princes’ father, King Charles, is said to be doing better than his eldest son, but he is already hurt by criticism of him and other royals on Harry’s Netflix series with his wife Meghan.

Sources say that while the King is deeply hurt and bewildered by Harry’s actions, he is still willing to keep a line of communication open, albeit cautious. “Whether Prince William would be as receptive is another question,” a source said.

“Things are hanging by a thread after the last few months, and from the looks of it, Harry’s memories are unlikely to help.”

In the book, Harry will claim that it was unfair that he was forced to play ‘secondary fiddle’ to his older brother and heir to the British throne, the Sun informed.

The Duke of Sussex has also reportedly been warned that Camilla is a ‘red line’ to her father King Charles.

The Daily Mail previously reported that while friends find it hard to believe the brothers will never speak again after all they’ve been through, William feels betrayed and angry at his brother’s constant attacks on the royal family.

There is also deep concern that Harry or Meghan could go public with anything they say in private.

While Buckingham Palace either refuses to comment or is caught up in a public “tit-for-tat” dispute with the Sussexes, there is a degree of “apprehension” about Harry’s memoir.

A source with knowledge of the book, provocatively titled Spare, told The Sunday Times they believed it would do irreparable damage to the brothers’ relationship.

The source said: ‘Overall, I think the book [will be] worse for them than the Royal Family expects. Everything is exposed. Charles comes off better than he expected, but it’s hard on William in particular, and even Kate takes a little barrage.

There are these minute details and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this.

The book will effectively be about the sibling rivalry between Princes Harry and William, a source told the Sun.

They said it will reveal that Harry’s “bitterness and feelings of injustice” due to his older brother’s birthright to become king means he has always “played second fiddle to older William.”

But their mother, Princess Diana, warned the siblings “to never fight” as they would need each other, the source said, adding that it was “very sad” that their fight had gone this far.

In the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, Harry, 38, accused his father of lying to him as the family tried to broker a ‘Megxit’ deal for the couple at a crisis summit in Sandringham in January 2020.

He said it was “terrifying to have my brother yell and yell at me and my father say things that just weren’t true and my grandmother sit there quietly and take it all in.”

She also claimed that older royals were jealous of Meghan’s popularity and tried to bring her down by planting negative stories against her in the media.

The Sunday Times source said the book, due to be published on January 10, explores Harry’s grief over the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

They said: “The general impression is that this is a man who has never recovered from the trauma of his mother’s death so young, and then Meghan comes along and he projects a parallel to Diana on her.”

Spare is written by JR Moehringer, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was also the ghostwriter of Andre Agassi’s best-selling autobiography.

The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House, claims it will be a “historic publication,” telling its story with “raw, unflinching honesty.”

Harry is also expected to give two high-profile television interviews to promote it.

He has reportedly already recorded an ITV interview in California with his News At Ten presenter Tom Bradby, a former royal correspondent who has known William and Harry for decades.

The second TV interview will be with US broadcaster CBS. It will be hosted by newscaster Anderson Cooper and will air on Sunday.

Editorial sources also said Harry was expected to do at least one newspaper interview, possibly with The New York Times. Buckingham Palace is expected to remain silent on the allegations against him. But it is unlikely that they will end the memories of him.

After stepping down as royals, Harry and Meghan signed lucrative deals with Netflix, Spotify and Penguin Random House, committing them to other projects. Her publishing deal is understood to be for four books, which could include an explosive memoir from Meghan.

The 41-year-old Duchess is known to have kept a personal diary while in Britain.

He previously launched a children’s book, The Bench, with the same publisher and the couple are said to be working on a book on “wellness”. But some have warned that there could be a danger of overexposure, following his interview with Oprah, the Netflix series and Harry’s memoir.

A senior Hollywood executive told The Mail on Sunday: “If I were advising you, I would warn you not to publish a book too quickly because there is a very real danger that people will start to experience ‘Sussex fatigue’.”

“There comes a point where people can feel like they’ve heard the same stories too many times. They have to change the narrative at some point and focus on the future instead of the past.’