Ever since Prince Harry RSVP’d to the coronation, Prince William has been flagrantly briefing the British media about his plans to snub his brother. William is “still furious with Harry,” you see, and William, as always, remains “irate” about all things Sussex. William planned to ignore Harry. William planned to never speak to Harry again. William will never, ever forgive Harry. William won’t even LOOK at Harry! Story after story, briefing after briefing, all about how much William hates the brother he physically assaulted. Now that Harry has outed William’s secret settlement from News Group Newspapers, suddenly the story is “how could Harry do this, Harry is destroying any chance to reconcile with William!!!” I sh-t you not.

The Duke of Sussex appears to have scuppered any hope of a reconciliation with his brother at the Coronation after claiming in court documents that the Prince of Wales received a secret payment from Rupert Murdoch’s company over phone hacking.

Prince William received a “huge sum” as part of a private settlement for being a victim of hacking, Prince Harry alleged in High Court papers made public on Tuesday as part of his case against the owners of the News of the World and The Sun. The payment, which the Telegraph understands was around £1 million, proves the existence of a “secret agreement” made between the Royal household and News Group Newspapers (NGN), made in part to help rehabilitate the Queen, the Duke claimed.

It is understood Prince William was completely unaware of the contents of his brother’s statement until it was made public just 12 days before the Coronation, when they will be reunited for the first time since the late Queen’s funeral.

The revelation of the secret payment will only serve to drive a deeper wedge between them. Sources close to both the Sussexes and the Waleses indicated that they did not expect any rapprochement when Prince Harry flies to the UK for the Coronation on May 6.

The Duke alleges that “NGN still settled [the Prince of Wales’] claim for a huge sum of money in 2020”. NGN denied any secret agreement with the palace. A spokesman offered no comment on the settlement. Although there are thought to have been negotiations with NGN in the run-up to Prince William’s settlement, royal sources have denied the existence of a formal pact.

[From The Telegraph]

So the Telegraph got the information about the size of William’s settlement how? £1 million is a lot more than most hacking victims received, although I would argue that William probably deserved much more. If only William had sued the Sun/NGN and been brave enough to testify in open court, he probably would have gotten much more. Of course, that would exposed all kinds of backroom deals between William, Kate, Charles, Camilla and the British media. As for Harry and William’s relationship – as I said, William had already made it abundantly clear that he’s too immature, too unwell, too compromised, too petty, too incandescent with rage to make peace with his only brother. Harry said okay and btw, FAFO.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.