Prince William, Duke of Cambridge , Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. Photo / Getty Images
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge , Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. Photo / Getty Images
Opinion:
There is something quaint about a book causing a furore. A TikTok? A tweet? A nipple-baring Instagram post? Why of course. But a book? With pages? How positively 1992.
But in the year ahead, with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year only a corgi hair's breadth away from kicking off,it is a book that is shaping up to be one of the biggest clouds on the palace's horizon and one which could prove to be the nail in the coffin of the once close bond between Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
The author of this controversial tome is none other than Harry, former Army captain and current California-based royal grudge-holder, who, it was revealed in July this year, has inked an estimated $27 million deal to pen his memoirs.
On one hand it should not have really come as that much of a surprise, given the Prince had spent many of the preceding months lobbing PR grenade after grenade over the palace gates with seeming scant regard for the impact.
On the other hand, never before has such a senior member of the royal family turned whistleblower (and with such a seeming lack of remorse).
Still, shock or not, what seems all-but guaranteed here is that whenever Harry's book comes out, it will rock the palace to its very 18th century foundations. Batten down the corgis and get Princess Anne ready for Defcon Five because … incoming!
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend the ANZAC Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on April 25, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. Photo / Getty Images
While the prospect of what Harry might reveal to the world boggles the mind and likely warms the cockles of every diehard republican's heart, one of the biggest casualties of this brewing PR storm could be what remains of his relationship with Kate.
Sigh. For so many years, the duo were delightfully close.
When Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton was announced in 2010, Harry said in a statement, "It means I get a sister, which I have always wanted."
During their wedding the following year, it was Harry's speech that saw Kate shed a tear, according to biographer Katie Nicholl, delivering an "affectionate, warm, and funny" toast to the happy couple which saw him tell the audience his brother and new sister-in-law's relationship was an "inspiration" to him.
(Nicholl has also revealed that Kate used to set him up on blind dates after he split from girlfriend Cressida Bonas).
Search online and you will find a delightful cavalcade of photos of Kate and Harry giggling and laughing together during official outings and family moments.
In 2016, the trio of William, Kate and Harry launched Heads Together, their pioneering mental health initiative.
When they announced the project, there the three of them stood in the palace garden for the press, arms around one another and larking about the place while cameras snapped away.
That closeness between Kate and Harry has sadly gone the way of William's once lustrous locks, that is, disappeared nearly overnight. When the Sussexes and the Cambridges found themselves face-to-face at Westminster Abbey, Kate did not acknowledge Harry, a move which would have been unthinkable not long before.
While, since Megxit, Kate has pressed on, her smiling seemingly fixed in perfect place, away from the cameras the Duchess of Cambridge has been "really, really upset about it all," a royal insider told People this week.
"Everything with Harry and Meghan has been hugely stressful, but if anything, it's pulled [her and William] closer together," another friend has said. "She was upset about it because [William] was so upset. Seeing her husband so distraught was tough."
(It would seem that dogged wifely loyalty is a Windsor WAG trait. Earlier this year one source told The Telegraph of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, "I don't think [she] will ever forgive Meghan for what she's done to the Prince of Wales.")
During the Sussexes' Oprah interview in March, Harry did not shy away from answering questions about his brother, saying "We've been through hell together. We have a shared experience, but we were on different paths."
He also told the global TV audience of 60 million who tuned in to watch the tell-all that he thought that "My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don't get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that."
Which is why one hardly needs a crystal ball, a complete set of Tarot cards and The Gift to predict that William, and Harry and William's relationship, will feature significantly in the younger Prince's upcoming autobiography.
And if Harry does vigorously air his dirty fraternal laundry, whatever is left of his once titanium bond with Kate, could likely end as collateral damage.
Intensely loyal, if the Duke of Sussex comes out swinging and takes aim at William, there is not a skerrick of a doubt on which side the future Queen Catherine will come down on.
Whatever wedge currently exists between Harry and Kate could also be widened even further by the release of season five of The Crown in 2022.
The coming season will cover the '90s and the breakdown of the Wales' marriage, thus dredging up and reviving one of the most damaging periods for the royal family in the last century. While establishment insiders like Eton College (where William and Harry both studied) have refused to work with the streaming giant, obviously not so Harry and Meghan who are now firmly on the multi-billion dollar behemoth's payroll.
In November, it was revealed that the royal family had been told they could sue over the award-winning royal soapie.
Though the chances of them doing this are infinitesimal, if non-existent, there is every chance that 2022's season of The Crown will be met with much more forceful and vocal pushback by the palace against Netflix.
Already, The Telegraph has reported that William is "frustrated" over the BBC's co-operation with the show's producers, suggesting we could see him take a much more forthright and assertive position.
Thus the stage is looking increasingly set for an all-new, just-as-messy trans-Atlantic face-off between William and Harry, a clash that would only further push Harry and Kate apart.
So much for goodwill and glad tidings this holiday season …
A final thought. This Christmas and New Year, when your family is bickering and your extended relatives are slowly driving you up the wall, just remember this: It could be a lot worse. You could be a Windsor.
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.
