William was born to be a king and his life is charted accordingly. Harry had more options. His way of life was extraordinary, like the younger brother of the future king. The Queen’s relationship with Princess Margaret has shaped the sexiest, and to a lesser extent, Charles relationship with Andrew the most bizarre.
Diana was well aware that her two sons were going down two completely different paths in life. Her biggest fear was that the gap between the heir and the spare parts would be bridged between them. She and Charles both agreed that both boys would grow up with a strong sense of duty and that Harry would never feel second-best. It was a particularly difficult target, especially since the Queen Mother would occasionally invite young William for tea to gently prepare him for his future, except for Harry.
The brothers’ earliest time together was when they shared a small cottage near Clive, a few miles from Chopry on the Welsh border, for several months. Harry was learning to fly a helicopter and William was training to be a rescue pilot in the RAF Chopry. Harry told me, when we chatted in Kensington Palace, how proud he was to be able to talk about “anything” with his brother, and said he was “the only person he could really trust”.
Young William’s instincts always kept his brother close, after they endured the tragedy of losing their mother. After all, they were the only people in each other’s lives who could know exactly what the other had suffered.