Prince Harry doesn't join Prince William on palace balcony. Look back at their complicated relationship

Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY

May 7, 2023 at 1:38 AM·6 min read

Though the coronation of King Charles III was about, well, the king, much of the interest was focused on his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, as the two brothers reunited.

Following the conclusion of the coronation ceremony, questions turned to whether Harry would join the royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace as King Charles greeted subjects. He did not ? the family members who appeared on the balcony were all working royals; Harry stepped back as a senior member of the royal family in 2020.

The past few years have brought to light the complicated relationship between the next heir to the British throne, Prince William, and his younger brother, referred to as the Spare in the palace growing up, as Harry recounted in his tell-all memoir earlier this year.

Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey with his cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice along with their husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, respectively. Prince William arrived a few minutes later with Princess Kate and their children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives to attend the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023, in London, England. The Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms is at Westminster Abbey today. Charles acceded to the throne on Sept. 8, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II.

Harry sat in the pew behind William's, on the opposite end. William briefly participated in the ceremony, kneeling before the new king, pledging loyalty to him. At the end, William, Kate, and their three children participated in the royal procession. Harry was again spotted outside the abbey with his cousins as the king and queen settled into their gold carriage.

While both princes along with Kate were in attendance, Harry’s wife, Duchess Meghan of Sussex was not: She stayed in California with the couple's children, Prince Archie, 3, and Princess Lilibet, 1.

With all eyes on William and Harry, here’s a refresher on how the brothers’ relationship has grown more contentious over the last few years.

More: Everything that happened at King Charles III's coronation

Britain's Prince William kisses his father, King Charles III, during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, May 6, 2023.

What Prince Harry wrote in his tell-all book about Prince William

In January, Harry’s highly-anticipated memoir, “Spare,” aired decades of his family’s dirty laundry.

After he and Meghan stepped down from their senior roles in the royal family in 2020 and moved to the U.S., Harry reunited with his family for the first time a year later at his grandfather Prince Philip's funeral. King Charles and Prince William had "come ready for a fight," Harry began the book. Harry remembers William, whom he calls "my beloved brother, my arch nemesis," and his father saying they "honestly" didn't know why Harry left. The memoir was a way of attempting to explain, he wrote.

In this file photo, Prince William and Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, on Sept. 10, 2022.

He and his brother shared moments of bonding and disagreement through the years. They occasionally reflected together on their mother’s death. In the early aughts, they begged Charles not to marry Camilla. But their rift had also been brewing since their childhoods. When Harry joined his brother at boarding school, William told his little brother to pretend they didn’t know each other, Harry wrote. Though the palace told the public the brothers were each other’s best men at their weddings, that wasn’t the truth, he added.

And William once physically attacked Harry in a dispute over Meghan, he claimed: "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dogs' bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out."

More: Physical attacks, drug use, Diana's death and more bombshells from Prince Harry's 'Spare'

Prince Harry has sued the media

Harry, who has several lawsuits against the news media, has vowed to make reforming the British tabloids his life's work. He blames an overly aggressive press for the 1997 car crash death of his mother, Princess Diana, and has accused reporters and photographers of hounding his wife, Meghan.

"I have always had an uneasy relationship with the press," Harry wrote in his witness statement. "However, as a member of the Institution, the policy was to 'never complain, never explain.' There was no alternative; I was conditioned to accept it."

Earlier this year, Harry blamed the royal family for a delay in bringing a phone hacking lawsuit against the publisher of The Daily Mail as lawyers for the newspaper argued that the case should be thrown out because he didn't file it soon enough.

Britain's Prince Harry leaves the Royal Courts Of Justice in London, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Prince Harry was in a London court on Tuesday as the lawyer for a group of British tabloids prepared to ask a judge to toss out lawsuits by the prince, Elton John and several other celebrities who allege phone tapping and other invasions of privacy.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Duke of Sussex said "the Institution" – a term he has used in other contexts to refer to the inner workings of Buckingham Palace – had prevented him from learning sooner about the activity of The Daily Mail and related publications by withholding information about phone hacking by other tabloids.

"The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking, and it was made clear to me that the royal family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms," Harry wrote in a witness statement for his lawsuit.

More: Prince Harry blames royal family for delay in tabloid privacy suit

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview

Before “Spare,” Harry spilled plenty of royal tea in a joint interview with Meghan on CBS with Oprah in 2021. The two spoke openly of the serious pain and mental health struggles that ultimately led them to step down as senior members of the royal family the year prior.

Bombshell anecdotes included Princess Kate making Meghan cry a week before her wedding, Harry feeling let down by his father and having a strained relationship with his brother.

UNSPECIFIED - UNSPECIFIED: In this handout image provided by Harpo Productions and released on March 5, 2021, Oprah Winfrey interviews Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on A CBS Primetime Special premiering on CBS on March 7, 2021. (Photo by Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775631276 ORIG FILE ID: 1231537162

"I love him to bits, we've been through hell together, we had a shared experience, but we’re on different paths, Harry said, later calling their relationship "spaced at the moment. And, you know, time heals all things, hopefully."

Harry also said a member of the royal family — who he did not name but later clarified was not the late Queen Elizabeth II or her husband, Prince Philip — expressed concerns over how dark Harry and Meghan’s biracial child’s skin would be.

More: 'I didn't want to be alive anymore': Duchess Meghan opens up in Oprah interview, more major moments

Contributing: Associated Press