Prince Harry's pride at one brief moment at outshining older brother William

06 January 2024 , 10:20

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Harry felt proud to outshine William for once (Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

When Prince Harry found himself outshining his elder brother Prince William in one area of their lives, he felt pride - even if it was only "for one brief moment".

The strained relationship between Harry and William was explored heavily in Harry's memoir Spare, which was released last year, and while the public has been aware of the tensions between the two brothers for the last few years, they date back far longer than that - at least from the point of view of the Duke of Sussex.

For Harry, some of the difficulties in his relationship with his brother were born out of the dynamic of the 'Heir' and 'Spare' and the different roles they were expected to fulfill within the Royal Family itself.

Harry also explored in his memoir the many ways in which he felt defined as less than William, whether that be through academic achievement or how they were characterised in the press.

There was one moment in his younger years when he finally found himself outshining his older brother and felt immense pride at the occasion.

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In 2006, Harry officially earned the role of Second Lieutenant Wales of the Blues and Royals and during his passing out parade - a ceremonial occasion to mark the completion of training - he had to march past his elder brother who in turn had to salute him as he did so.

This moment marked that at least in one respect, Harry finally outranked William - in the hierarchy of the Royal Family, this was something that he would never do, as William is higher up the line of succession than Harry.

William "was at Sandhurst too now. A fellow cadet. (He'd started after me, because he'd gone to university first.)" Harry explained in his memoir.

This meant his elder brother "couldn't resort to his typical attitude when we were sharing an institution, couldn't pretend not to know me - or he'd be insubordinate."

In the armed forces, much like the Royal Family, hierarchy is the foundation block of its structure, and so insubordination is simply not a choice available to cadets, so "Willy saluted" his younger brother on the celebratory occasion.

This meant that "for one brief moment, Spare outranked Heir" and it was a moment that Harry seemed to take a lot of pride in from his description in this memoir.

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Emma Mackenzie