Ever since Prince Harry first began dating Meghan Markle, rumors have swirled that a massive rift has formed between himself and his older brother Prince William over the relationship. Now, “Battle of Brothers: The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult” author Robert Lacey is speaking out to back these rumors up in a big way.

“The fundamental conflict was between the two males who had known each other all their lives and had never hesitated to tell each other exactly what they thought and felt,” read a passage from Lacey’s book that was obtained by People magazine.

“William worried that his brother was moving too fast in his courtship — and he did not shrink from saying as much when Harry started talking about getting hitched to Meghan quite soon,” Lacey added.

The author went on to say that a “confrontation” occurred between the royals in “late 2016 or early 2017” in regards to Harry’s plans to marry Meghan.

“William couched his question in terms of apparent concern for Meghan,” Lacey claimed. “’Waity William,’ of course, took so long to commit to Kate [Middleton] for the sake of the monarchy. He had been auditioning her for a job all those years.”

“So Harry could not help but wonder whether Will was really concerned about his personal happiness — or whether he was, once again and as per usual, thinking about the makeup and fortunes of ‘the Firm’ whose boss he would become one day?” he continued. “The response from Harry was a brusque and offended pushback.”

Things only went downhill even more after Harry married Meghan in 2018.

“Here we have a couple of brothers who loved each other dearly — most profoundly and genuinely, in fact — but who could give as good as they got when it came to a clash over something that mattered intensely to them,” Lacey wrote. “For William it was the future state of his monarchy — his sacred trust; while for Harry it was the love of the complex and captivating woman who had finally made sense of his life.”

Lacey previously warned that if they don’t mend William and Harry don’t mend their rift soon, the feud could be damaging to the crown in the long term.

“If this breach between the brothers is not healed in some way it will come to stand with the abdication crisis and the death of Diana as one of the traumas that changed the monarchy,” Lacey said. “There is time to change things in a positive direction, but at the moment the palace is not working in that direction.”

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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