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Prince William and Kate Middleton reportedly reached a blunt verdict on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The claim appeared in royal editor Russell Myers’ book, William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story. 

One source familiar with both couples said, “They definitely thought the Sussexes’ behavior stemmed from something more than being difficult. The whole atmosphere between them was pretty toxic.” 

The source added, “Meghan was being bullish, Kate found her abrasive. There was definitely a hope from her side [Catherine’s] that William could try and talk to Harry and settle things, but that didn’t exactly happen…” 

The insider continued, “At the end of the day, she had three young children, who were her focus and if anything, she saw the inevitability of the parting of ways, although perhaps not to the extent of what eventually happened.”

Harry and Markle married in May 2018. According to Myers, things between the brothers soon began to sour. Then, in October 2019, the two sat down with ITV’s Tom Bradby for Harry & Meghan: An African Journey. Asked about reports of a split with William, Harry didn’t brush them off. 

“We are certainly on different paths at the moment,” he said. Markle also admitted she was struggling. Bradby asked if she was “not really OK.” Her answer was, “Yes.” Myers wrote that the interview hit William hard. A source close to him claimed the future King felt he had “lost” Harry somewhere along the way. 

The tipster said that William “became paranoid, angry, obsessive, and firmly rooted in the past. There’s no doubt, at that time at least, there was a lot of love and support available for Harry.” William had never publicly described Harry that way. Harry did later reveal William’s early worries about Markle. 

In his 2023 memoir Spare, he wrote that his brother told him to slow down. Still, Myers’ source said William initially liked Markle. “It’s easy to forget now, given everything that has gone on,” an insider told Myers. “But William did find Meghan quite refreshing at first. He was genuinely happy for Harry and only wanted the best for him.”

However, that didn’t last. Harry and Markle quit as senior working royals in 2020 and moved to California. Their new life soon brought more public attacks on the monarchy. The couple made explosive claims in their 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview. Then came Netflix’s Harry & Meghan. 

Harry went further in Spare. He alleged that William attacked him during a 2019 argument over Markle. Harry claimed his brother knocked him into a dog bowl, leaving him injured. According to Myers, Middleton initially tried to keep the peace. 

“Catherine has always favored reason over conflict. It was how she had been brought up, in a household that resolved differences with dialogue rather than by bearing grudges,” he said. At first she saw the brothers’ rows as “stubbornness and immaturity” on both sides. 

But Harry and Markle’s “attitude towards palace staff, who she and William cared about, set the couples on an entirely different course.” Separately, on August 26, Harry and Markle returned to Britain with Archie and Lilibet after living in California since 2020. 

The family had flown in privately for an “extended period” outside London. Their kids are set to start school in Britain this month. Meanwhile, the couple planned to remain non-working royals and live outside a royal residence. 

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