How a former Royal employee knows that Harry and William are no longer "so close"

The royal artist has shared her touching memories of painting the young brothers 

All sibling relationships have their ups and downs, and there’s no reason it would be any different for one of the world’s most famous sets of brothers: Prince Harry and Prince William. In recent years, there have been various reports about a rift between the pair. 

Harry himself has spoken about the relationship in interviews. Now, royal artist Nicky Phillips has commented on how the brothers used to be “so close” and “sweet” together. 

"I painted them for the National Portrait Gallery,” explained Nicky during her appearance in the latest episode of ITV’s Keeping Up With The Aristocrats. "They were so sweet. They were so close, those were the days."

She continued: "I said, ‘Could I possibly have them at home?’, and they did, which was amazing. They were in full uniform and they just walked around, into the house and not one single one of my neighbours noticed anything, and this happened five times."

She went on to describe the outcome of her painting. "That was in 2008 when I got savaged for giving William too much hair. I think the poor chap lost quite a lot of it in 2009. I don’t know what happened then but it all fell out.”

Prince Harry’s previous comments in interviews have seemingly confirmed the rift with his brother William. 

Speaking to ITV's Tom Bradby in 2019, Harry said that due to the nature of their lives "inevitably stuff happens.” 

He continued: "But look, we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers – and we’re certainly on different paths at the moment. But I’ll certainly always be there for him as I know he’ll always be there for me. We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy. But I love him dearly and the majority of the stuff is created out of nothing. But as brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.”

Harry opened up about his relationship with William again in his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last year. He explained that the pair were having "space at the moment,” but that he still loves his brother and “time heals all things, hopefully."

He continued: “As I’ve said before, I love William to bits. He’s my brother. We’ve been through hell together. We have a shared experience, but we were on different paths.”

Harry also spoke about his sympathy for William. “My father and my brother, they are trapped,” he told Oprah, "They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.”

With all the pressures of royal life, it’s no wonder the Princes’ relationship has become strained. Like Harry, we hope that time will be the best healer.