Prince William Is ‘Worried’ About Prince Harry and Meghan Markle After Emotional Documentary
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s candid and emotional revelations about the pressures of life in the royal spotlight are being felt by Prince William.
William is reportedly “worried” about his brother Harry and sister-in-law Meghan after they opened up about ongoing tabloid rumors and the onslaught of attention and lack of privacy in ITV’s new documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, reports the BBC.
A palace source told the news outlet that Meghan and Harry are thought to be “in a fragile place.”
Speaking in the new documentary, which aired on Sunday in the U.K. and is scheduled to air in the U.S. on Wednesday, Harry revealed just how much the negative press attention has hurt him and his wife.
“It’s management. It’s constant management,” Harry told ITV’s Tom Bradby about his mental health during the special which gives a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the royal couple’s recent tour of southern Africa. “I thought I was out of the woods and then suddenly it all came back and I suddenly realized, ‘Actually this is something that I have to manage.’ “
Towards the end of the royal tour, which saw the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit South Africa with 5-month-old son Archie (Harry also traveled solo to Angola, Botswana and Malawi), it was revealed that Meghan had launched legal action against the Mail on Sunday for publishing a private letter she sent to her father.
“Look, part of this job and part of any job, like everybody, means putting on a brave face and turning a cheek to a lot of the stuff. But again, for me and for my wife, of course, there’s a lot of stuff that hurts — especially when the majority of it is untrue,” Harry said of the media scrutiny.
“But all we need to do is focus on being real, focus on being the people we are and standing up for what we believe in. I will not be bullied into carrying a game that killed my mum,” he added, referencing the 1997 death of Princess Diana.
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Harry also referenced the rumored rift between him and his older brother.
“Inevitably stuff happens,” he said. “But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers. We’re certainly on different paths at the moment. I’ll always be there for him and as I know, he’ll always be there for me. We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy but I love him dearly.”
The father of one added, “The majority of stuff is created out of nothing. As brothers, we have good days and we have bad days.��
Back in April, an insider told PEOPLE that William and Harry “are at very different situations in their lives.” According to the insider, the two were always destined for different paths. Harry, who leads with his instincts, sees his older brother as being hemmed in by protocol as the future monarch.
In the revealing documentary, Meghan said: “I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a ‘stiff upper lip.’ I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging.”
Meghan went on to tell Bradby that she would understand the scrutiny if it were fair.
“I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair. And that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile,” she said. “If things were fair … If I’d done something wrong, I’d be the first one to go ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I would never do that,’ ” she continued.
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“But when people are saying things that are just untrue and they are being told they’re untrue but they’re allowed to still say them — I don’t know anybody in the world who would feel like that’s okay.”
Harry & Meghan: An African Journey will air in the U.S. on Wednesday, Oct. 23. (at 10 p.m. ET) on ABC.
