Prince William made a rare public comment about his brother Prince Harry following years of tension between the royal siblings.
In a newly released promo clip for upcoming documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, uploaded via YouTube on Saturday, October 26, the future king of England recalled a shared childhood memory.
William, 42, recalled how his late mother, Princess Diana, took him and Harry to The Passage – a UK charity supporting those enduring or at risk of homelessness – which became an eye-opening childhood experience for him.
“My mother took me to The Passage; she took Harry and I both there. I must have been 11 at the time, maybe 10,” William said. “I had never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious about what to expect.”
William shared that the experience made him aware of how privileged his upbringing was, and forced him to acknowledge that not everyone’s life is like the one he was born into.
“My mother went about her usual, making everyone feel relaxed, having a laugh and joking with everyone. I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘Well, if everyone doesn’t have a home, they’re all going to be really sad.’ But it was incredible how happy an environment it was,” William said. “I remember having some good conversations, playing chess, chatting and that’s when it dawned on me that there were other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.”
He continued: “You know, when you’re quite small, you just think life is what you see in front of you and you don’t really have concept to look elsewhere. It’s when you meet people, as I did then, who put a different perspective in your head and say, ‘Well, I was living on the street last night,’ and you’re like, ‘Woah.’ I remember that happening.”
The comments are believed to be the first time William has publicly spoken about Harry since their rift heated up following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s exit from the Royal Family in January 2020.
Harry, 40, has previously touched on his complicated relationship with his brother, including in a CBS interview in 2021.
“I love William to bits. We’ve been through hell together and we have a shared experience, but we are on different paths,” he said. “The relationship is space at the moment and time heals all things, hopefully.”
Harry later described William as his “archnemesis” in his 2023 memoir, Spare.
“There has always been this competition between us, weirdly,” Harry said during an interview with Good Morning America in January 2023 while promoting his book. “I think it really plays into or always played by the ‘heir/spare.’”
