Following the bombshell news of the Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnosis, Prince Harry is likely to be wishing he could turn back time, a royal expert tells new
Mitya Underwood
As the world reels from Kate Middleton’s news that she is being treated for cancer, Prince Harry will be full of regret over the damaged state of their once close relationship, a royal expert claims.
Duncan Larcombe, a royal biographer and former royal editor, told us the Princess of Wales, 42, was once like “the sister Harry never had” and the shocking news of her diagnosis has likely left him wishing he could “turn the clock back”.
Relations between Harry, 39, his sister-in-law Kate and his brother Prince William, 41, have “collapsed” in recent years, Duncan said, in the wake of the Sussexes airing the royal family’s private dramas in public.
Kate, in particular, was dragged into a number of scandals by Harry and Meghan during their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, and in Harry’s memoir Spare, which came out last year.
The book included accusations that Kate made Meghan, 42, cry in the lead-up to the Sussexes wedding, and claimed Kate felt she was “forced to compete” with her American sister-in-law.
“Bombshell news like Kate’s puts things in perspective and Harry isn’t immune from being filled with regrets and what-ifs,” Duncan told us. “Kate was like the sister Harry never had and he is probably full of regret at how his relationship with her and William has collapsed so spectacularly.”
Kate, William and Harry were once dubbed the “Fab Three” after Kate started dating William in 2003. They were often seen on holidays together, and Kate was regularly photographed enjoying a laugh with a younger Harry.
Kate was thought to be a solid and dependable female figure in Harry’s life after he and William lost their mum, Diana, the former Princess of Wales, when they were just 12 and 15.
When Kate and William got engaged in 2010, Harry said publicly he was excited to get the sister “I have always wanted”, and while he dished the dirt on their subsequent fallouts – particularly between Kate and Meghan – in Spare, he also described Kate as “carefree, sweet, kind”.
“Kate was very much a big influence on Harry and a close friend,” Duncan said. “They enjoyed a lot of fun times together, and obviously that merged and grew into the Fab Three, where Harry was the official royal goose
