When Queen Elizabeth II passed away in September of 2022, the feuding factions of the royal family briefly set aside their differences and came together in order to grieve and send a message of unity to a nation in mourning.
The truce didn’t last, of course, and the two sides cut off communication shortly after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned to California.
Four months later, Harry’s debut memoir hit stores, driving the final nail into the coffin of the duke’s relationship with his brother, Prince William.
Or at least that’s the narrative we’ve been led to believe.
According to a new book by royal journalist Omid Scobie, it was actually William who dealt the final blow to the brotherly bond between the princes.
Scobie claims that Harry might have been able to make it to the Queen’s bedside in time to say goodbye if William hadn’t stymied his travel plans.
Harry was in London on unrelated business when his grandmother took ill, and according to Scobie, he did everything in his power to get on board William’s private flight to Scotland.
But for reasons that might forever remain a mystery, the elder brother (allegedly) would not allow it.
Scobie reports that the drama began with a call from King Charles to Harry.
“‘You should answer it,’ Meghan told him. He tapped accept just before it stopped. Harry hadn’t spoken to his father much that year, but this was not the time for any father-and-son tension,” the author writes in Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival.
“Charles told him he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral, where Princess Anne was already by the Queen’s side,” Scobie continues (via Yahoo! News).
“He told Harry to make his way to Scotland immediately. William, whom Charles had just spoken to, was supposedly working on arranging travel.”
Harry began a mad scramble in hopes of making it to Balmoral in time, and he was reportedly shocked to learn that he would receive no assistance from William.
“With no further information from other family members or Palace aides, the Sussexes and their team had to operate in the dark,” Scobie writes.
“Harry was informed that William had already secured a flight with his uncles Andrew and Edward (and Edward’s wife, Sophie), but he couldn’t get in touch with anyone about joining that flight.”
“It was upsetting to witness,” a Sussexes informed Scobie. “[Harry] was completely by himself on this.”
“Though there were available seats on William’s chartered Dassault Falcon private jet, which was leaving in less than an hour, Harry was left to fend for himself,” the author explains.
Scobie goes on to allege that Harry was denied a seat on the flight even after he reluctantly agreed to travel without Meghan (after being assured that Kate Middleton would also be staying behind in London).
“Charles had cited ‘protocol,’ but the reality was that Kate chose to stay back to pick up the children from their first day at a new school,” Scobie says.
“They just didn’t want Meghan there,” a source identified as a “palace insider” explains.
Harry was eventually able to secure a second flight to Scotland, but he arrived much later than his brother.
In the end, the Queen passed away at 3:10 pm, and William’s flight landed at 3:50, so neither party made it in time.
According to Scobie, Harry was then forced to “beg” his family to hold off announcing the Queen’s passing until he had arrived in Balmoral.
When Harry’s flight was delayed due to bad weather, palace officials felt that they had no choice but to make the announcement.
“They could wait no longer and the announcement went live at 6:30 p.m.” Scobie claims.
“When Harry’s plane finally touched tarmac twenty minutes later, he received a text from Meghan urging him to call ASAP followed by a breaking news alert via the BBC News app with the announcement of the Queen’s death.”
Scobie has worked closely with the Sussexes in the past, so his account likely comes straight from the source.
And it’s sure to be taken by William and company as an open display of hostility from the Sussexes.