The Mountbatten-Windsors are undoubtedly one of the most talked-about families in the world, with Prince Harry, Prince William and their families making the most news.
Yes, from private jet controversies and royal babies to family outings and relatable everyday activities, the Sussexes and Cambridges are the centre of non-stop headlines.
It wasn’t the rumoured feud or the multiple reports that they had finally buried the hatchet that got the world talking about the brothers this week. Instead, it was their childhood, with a new book alleging that Harry and William swapped personalities when they were children.
According to Robert Lacey’s Battle of Brothers: The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, William used to be the wild child and Harry the quiet and sensitive one, something that reportedly changed due to a difficult childhood.
“From the ages of four and two, William and Harry grew up in the care of two parents who were not sharing the same bed, who were more inclined to talk to the press than to each other, and who were also engaging in patterns of systematic deceit,” Robert Lacey writes in his book.
According to Lacey, William started to become “more reflective” and a “noticeably quiet character—definitely introverted”, while the once quiet Harry became “rambunctious”.
Robert Lacey continued: “Ken Wharfe, bodyguard to Diana and the two boys in the late 1980s, recalls a telling incident when the family was travelling from London to Highgrove for the weekend. According to Wharfe, Harry and his brother got embroiled in an argument in the back seat of the car, with their nanny vainly seeking to referee the dispute. ‘You’ll be king one day,’ said the four-year-old Harry. ‘I won’t. So I can do what I want.'”
Here’s hoping the two brothers can put everything in recent years behind them.
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire U.K.
