They were so close as young boys.
Since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their royal exit, Princes William and Harry have seemingly grown further and further apart.
It's unclear whether the Sussexes and the Cambridges spent any time together during the Queen's Jubilee weekend in June, but they definitely weren't seen interacting in public.
Many royal fans are saddened by this development, because the brothers seemed very close growing up — and were a much-needed source of support for each other after the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
As we commemorate the late princess 25 years after her tragic death, Paul Burrell, who was her butler, reflected on how his former employer would have felt about William and Harry's rift.
"It is an intensely private moment for the boys, and I think they’ll be commemorating their mother by speaking to their children and telling them how wonderful Granny Diana was," Paul said on TalkTV (via the Daily Star).
"I think that will be William and Harry’s contribution. That rift is enormously sad for the people who care about William and Harry."
Paul continued: "I still care about both those boys, watching them grow from tiny babies into fine young men and watching them go out into the world. Diana would be so proud of that.
"What she wouldn’t be proud of [is] the fact they’re not speaking and that they’re oceans apart, because she thought they were joined at the hip for the rest of their lives."
Both William and Harry often mention Diana in their speeches, and try to honour her legacy by engaging in similar charity work and making sure their children know about the grandmother they never knew.
For example, Harry once revealed that Archie's first word was "grandma," because he had a picture of her on his nursery wall, and had clearly been told many stories about her.
William and Harry have not yet commented on the claim.
