Royal Butler Shares The Incident that Left Harry 'Devastated' and Jealous of William: ‘You Could See…’

With William being the heir to the throne, the aide claimed Harry often resented his elder brother for being privy to favoritism.

Prince William and Prince Harry’s childhood was anything but normal. The two brothers faced several difficulties at a young age, from their parents’ divorce playing out in the media to their mother’s passing. Through it all, the two had each other, as they later shared in interviews. A royal butler, however, argues the brothers didn't always get along well. With William being the heir to the throne, the aide claimed Harry often resented his elder brother for being privy to favoritism.

Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, who began working for the royal family at 18, closely saw the two princes grow up and understood how Harry allegedly envied William. During his appearance on the Channel 5 documentary The Palace: What the Royal Servants Saw, Burrell, according to Express, recalled how William and Harry’s royal destinies came between them. He said, “I heard one of the nannies say to William, ‘I'm going to give you three sausages, William. You need to grow big and strong, because you're going to be king one day.’”

The difference in treatment allegedly left Harry 'devastated'. The butler spilled, “Poor Harry's face across the table. I looked at him [and knew he was thinking] 'Why did you get three sausages and I got two?’” Burrell argued that Harry continued to feel the same even as a grown-up. He said, “I met both William and Harry in their early 20s, at a polo match, and chatted to them...You could see that Harry always felt he was in second place.”

Royal biographer Robert Jobson chimed in, throwing light on Harry’s ‘complex character.’ He said, “Even though he had this persona of being this happy-go-lucky guy that was well respected, the reality, I think, is that he always had a complex character. He was always struggling with the idea of the service, of having a public role.”

In a 2023 interview with journalist Anderson Cooper, the Duke of Sussex himself described his not-so-rosy relationship with his brother. As reported by Hello! magazine, Harry, describing his first few days at Eton, shared how William was rather cold to him. Harry claims William ordered him to act as if they didn’t know each other. Harry recalled, “At the time, it hurt. I couldn’t make sense of it. I was like, ‘What do you mean? We’re now at the same school.” In his memoir, Spare, Harry shared that sports ultimately helped him grow out of feeling like an outsider. Harry penned, “I played every dry sport, though rugby captured my heart. I simply didn't feel pain the way other boys did, which made me scary on a pitch. ”