Until Prince Harry married Meghan, William and him were so close, but Harry was much more popular, Di’s b…

PRINCE William and his brother were “so close” until Harry married Meghan Markle, Di’s former bodyguard claims.

Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Ken Wharfe opened up about the brothers’ relationship – telling tales of the years he’d spent with them as youngsters.

Prince William and Harry were close until recent years, a former bodyguard claimed

Prince William and Harry were close until recent years, a former bodyguard claimedCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The boys grew up entertaining each other

The boys grew up entertaining each otherCredit: Getty – Contributor
Ken Wharfe claimed the brothers were close until Harry married Meghan

Ken Wharfe claimed the brothers were close until Harry married MeghanCredit: AFP
The bodyguard worked for Princess Diana

The bodyguard worked for Princess DianaCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
The personal protection officer, who went on to write an explosive tell-all book, says Harry used to be more popular than William – until he tied the knot.

Prince Harry, 39, lobbed bombs at his brother in his explosive memoir Spare.

He wrote that William attacked him, “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.

Harry also waged war on Princess Kate, claiming she made his wife cry, “grimaced” when Meghan asked to borrow her lip gloss, and had a furious bust-up over comments about her hormones.

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The brothers have reportedly not seen each other since, with experts claiming William has no time for Harry after “everything he’s done”.

But Ken, who was around the boys when they were younger, claimed they mostly got on – and Harry was the more popular of the two.

He said everything changed between the brothers in the last 10 years.

Ken told The Sun: “I think this all really began around the time of Harry’s marriage to Meghan.

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“Much later in life because up until that point, certainly up until the point of their mother’s death, they were very much at one.

“They entertained each other, they were very much involved with each other’s friends.

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“Right through that early part of life, Harry was always the most popular.”

He explained there was one day when William was about six and Harry four when the boys were having an argument at Kensington Palace.

They all jumped into the car to head to Highgrove, and it was the first time he’d heard Harry reference the fact that his brother would become King.

Ken continued: “Suddenly Harry turns around and says ‘it’s OK for you, you’ll be King one day and you can do what you want’.

“And furthermore he said ‘and I’ll do what I want’.

“I looked at Diana and she was in the front seat and she said ‘where the hell did he get that from?’”

The bodyguard said that Harry was always the “joker, the entertainer”.

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Ken continued: “The sort of sibling rivalry that there was for the eldest, William, to be slightly nervous or envious of Harry because he was so popular.

“But he was the entertainer. You could almost say he was the court jester at that time.”

Inside Prince Harry’s lavish childhood
PLUSH PLAYROOM

King Charles, Princess Diana and the children lived in apartments 8 and 9 at Kensington Palace, which is now the home of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The luxurious West London home spanned three floors and the entirety of one of them was reserved for William and Harry.

Diana hired renowned interior designer Dudley Poplak to transform the dated property to her taste and installed a plush playroom with beautiful wooden rocking horses.

Luxury children’s design company Dragons Of Walton Street, which flogs hairbrushes for £150 and cots for £2,100 upwards, also helped to put the space together.

Archive photos show the young family beside an upright piano and relaxing on comfy sofas inside elegantly decorated rooms.

BUFFETS

While many would assume a royal child would sit down to a lavish state dinner every evening, it turns out that wasn’t always the case

During Harry and William’s childhood, they would often tuck into run-of-the-mill healthy meals under the instruction of their strict nanny.

Former royal chef Darren McGrady told the Daily Express: “The nanny always insisted they had their protein, roast chicken, and cabbage because cabbage was good for you.

“If it was left to the boys it would have been cheeseburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets and loaded potatoes.”

The youngsters were once so determined to get fast-food-style meals that they forged a note pretending to be their nanny.

The handwritten letter, which was foiled due to having ‘childish handwriting’, read: “Please give the boys pizza tonight instead of chicken.”

However, there were a few occasions when Harry and William managed to bypass their strict diet.

At Kensington Palace, food was served “buffet style”, which meant they “could go back for more and more and more” and Darren says “it was always the desserts” they returned for.

He also told Hello! Magazine that Diana regularly caved into their demands and would ensure their favourite dessert “banana flan [was] in the menu book”.

Darren also said the late Princess often told the children: “If you want fried chicken or loaded potato skins or hamburgers, that’s fine.”

SKI TRIPS & SPICE GIRL SNAPS

From a young age, both Harry and William were taught to ski and were regularly snapped with their parents on the slopes in Austria and Switzerland.

During their early attempts, William was said to be ‘cautious’ while Harry allegedly used to race downhill from the age of six after just a few hours of coaching.

They also enjoyed sunny seaside getaways, which were captured in photos including two from 1997 that showed Harry on a jetski and another on a luxury yacht in St Tropez, France.

The prince also regularly went to Balmoral and to Norfolk during the school holidays and their dad regularly made them go litter-picking to help them fall in love with nature.

In a BBC documentary, William recalled: “We’re there with our, basically, spikes, stabbing the rubbish into black plastic bags.”

The young princes also accompanied their parents on Royal Tours overseas.

While the visits were work for his parents, it seems the boys loved their time in beautiful locations around the world and it landed them enviable opportunities – including meeting the Spice Girls in 1997.

One photo, which was taken at the group’s concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, showed Harry looking bashful while holding Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham’s hands.

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