Prior to his marriage and subsequent move to California, Prince Harry was a regular fixture on the London nightclub scene.
He left the hard-partying life behind when he met Meghan Markle, of course, but initially, it looked as though he would always maintain ties with the handful of close friends who had been there for him since childhood.
Now, however, both insiders and outside observers are alleging that Harry has essentially pulled the plug on all of his oldest friendships.
And these commenters are following the toxic habit of the UK tabloid press by blaming everything on Meghan.
“I know quite a few of Harry’s friends who don’t hear from him at all now,” King Charles’ former butler Grant Harrold told Fox News this week.
“They were both very sociable boys,” Harrold said of Harry and brother Prince William.
“And that’s what’s so sad about it now, how they’ve gone from best of friends to non-existent really. They have become so distant.”
Harrold believes the loss of connection between Harry and his friends is sad, but the end of Harry’s relationship with William is genuinely tragic.
“I mainly worked with them when they were approaching their late teenage years and twenties. I liked the way they got on with each other,” Harrold recalled.
“They were always having fun together and having banter. They played practical jokes and wound each other up, but it was harmless,” the retired butler continued.
According to royal expert Hilary Fordwich, the rift between Harry and the friends grew up formed long before the Duke of Sussex moved to America in 2020.
“They were best friends, and they had the same friends, too. You’d see them in the pubs together. It was a great time for them,” Fordwich told Fox this week.
“Harry’s friends are mostly from the prestigious Eton College, where the sons of elites are groomed for former national leadership. Indeed, 20 British prime ministers attended Eton,” she explained.
“One of the very first falling outs was when he introduced Meghan to his Eton friends back in 2016 during a Sandringham country estate shooting party. Ever since then, the friends have kept their distance as has Harry.”
Those comments are echoed by Charles’ biographer Christopher Andersen, who says the situation was complicated by the fact that Harry and William had so many mutual friends, some of whom felt that they had to choose between the brothers once Meghan entered the picture.
“When ‘Megxit’ first occurred, William and Harry’s friends were forced to choose sides,” Andersen said.
“Even brothers like Henry and Thomas Van Straubenzee, the princes’ pals since childhood, were forced to choose one over the other, causing friction in their own families.”
Andersen went on to claim that Harry has now grown close with Meghan’s friend group and has little contact with classmates he grew up with.
“But time and distance have taken their toll. Harry’s life is centered not in London but in California. So, logically, he has grown closer to Meghan’s crowd,” Andersen told Fox.
“He can’t just drive a few miles to attend a friend’s wedding in the English countryside as he did so many times in the past.”
The journalist explained that Harry is unable to see his friends when he returns to the UK — even when he’s not joined by Meghan — due to rifts between the duke and his brother.
“It’s not just because thousands of miles separate Harry from his friends. Every time he boards a plane and flies back home to England, speculation about a meeting with the king and his brother runs wild,” Andersen said.
“There just aren’t that many opportunities to interact with his old friends back in England.”
It sounds like many factors have contributed to the growing divide between Harry and his friends.
But we’re not surprised that pundits in the UK have once again chosen to fixate on the Meghan angle.
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