Author Claims Harry Tried to Reach Out to Prince William — But That 'Stone Wall is Still Up'
Reconciliation between Prince William and Prince Harry has long seemed distant. But according to a royal author, there was an attempt, behind the scenes, to reopen communication, an effort that ultimately went nowhere. Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom and Endgame, says he was told that Harry had tried to use an intermediary in the hope of breaking the impasse. Speaking to Us Weekly, Scobie explained that the outreach was meant to create a safe channel for dialogue at a time when direct contact seemed impossible.
Providing insight into what was happening behind the scenes at the time he was writing Endgame, Scobie said he had been in touch with individuals close to the Duke of Sussex. Those conversations, he explained, pointed to an unsuccessful effort to reopen dialogue. “When I wrote my last book [Endgame] I was having conversations with people very close to Harry, and one of the things that were shared with me was that Harry had reached out to an intermediary, kind of mutual friend between himself and his brother, hoping that would allow them to have some kind of conversation together, maybe with someone present, or through whatever channel,” Scobie told the magazine.
According to Scobie, that attempt failed to gain traction. “It didn’t happen. It wasn’t received in any way whatsoever,” he said, suggesting that the effort was effectively ignored. Looking at the situation now from the outside, Scobie indicated that little appears to have changed. “From what I see now from the outside, it looks like that stone wall is still up,” he added. “Unless the attitudes change on both sides, we’re never going to find any way to resolution.” Relations between William and Harry deteriorated sharply in the lead-up to the Sussexes’ departure from royal duties, and tensions were laid bare in January 2023 when Harry published his memoir, Spare.
In the book, Harry described a confrontation with his elder brother during a 2019 visit to his London home. He alleged that William referred to Meghan as “difficult” and “rude,” an exchange that escalated into what Harry characterized as a physical altercation. Yet even as he detailed the breakdown, Harry had been vocal that reconciliation remained his preference. In an ITV interview at the time, he said he would “like to have my brother back."
According to Scobie, however, communication had already stalled by the time Endgame was published. “When Endgame came out, there had been zero communication for quite some time,” Scobie tells Us. “And we certainly have heard nothing more in the press since.”
Against that backdrop of stalled communication, others close to the institution suggest the distance between the brothers is deliberate. Former royal butler Paul Burrell has argued that any near-term reconciliation is unlikely, particularly in light of Prince Harry’s series of high-profile interviews and disclosures.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Burrell said the Prince of Wales has drawn firmer boundaries than many realize. “I think William has distanced himself from Harry a lot more than people realize. As he [William] gets nearer and nearer to the throne, which will be in a few years, he has to remain isolated,” he said. In Burrell’s view, the demands of kingship require tighter control over both message and environment.