20 January 2024 , 15:06
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The difficulties that Prince William and Prince Harry have had in their relationship have been well documented in recent years, but a former bodyguard for their late mother, Princess Diana, has revealed that some of the issues between the two brothers span all the way back to their childhood.
Ken Wharfe, who worked as a protection officer for the Royal Family for many years, explained that one particular incident that took place during a car journey that revealed a lot about the dynamic between the siblings, and it occurred when Harry was only four years old - leaving Princess Diana truly surprised.
Speaking to LBC, Wharfe explained that whilst driving from London to Gloucestershire with the family decades ago, William and Harry started rowing, and Harry shot back at his elder brother by saying he was free to "do what I want," unlike William.
"I had the privilege of working with his mother, William and Harry, and many other members of the Royal Family," Wharfe explained, " I remember a moment of Harry as a four-year-old, travelling down to Gloucester one weekend. He and his brother had an argument in the back seat of the car being refereed by the nanny. And in the end, Harry said: 'You'll be King one day, I won't. Therefore I can do what I want!'"
Wharfe added that the comment made by her youngest son left Princess Diana shocked, and unsure why Harry had said it: "Diana said 'Where the hell did he get that from?'"
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In Harry's memoir Spare, which was released in January 2023, he depicts a childhood in which he was acutely aware of the different roles he and his elder brother occupied within the institution of the monarchy. Even titling the memoir Spare - in contrast to William as the 'Heir' - arguably proved how intrinsic this role was to his sense of self, even as a young boy.
In the opening pages of the memoir, Harry describes the nursery bedroom that had been split in half for him and William as children at Balmoral, noting that William "had the larger half, with a double bed, a good-sized basin, a cupboard with mirrored doors, a beautiful window looking down on the courtyard, the fountain, the bronze statue of a roe deer buck.
"My half of the room was far smaller, less luxurious. I never asked why. I didn't care. But I also didn't need to ask ... Willy was the Heir, whereas I was the Spare." Harry went on to note that this wasn't just a characterisation that appeared in the press, but it "was a shorthand often used by Pa and Mummy and Grandpa. And even Granny."
The revealing comment that Wharfe overheard when Harry was just four, shows how likely it is that he was already distinctly aware that he had a very different destiny ahead of him than his elder brother - who would one day be King.
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