'Pretend we don't know each other': Harry recalls pain at William's high school request

The Duke of Sussex has recalled his pain at a request made by Prince William when Harry joined him at the same high school.

The royal brothers attended elite boarding school Eton College. Prince William began in 1995 and Harry joined him three years later in 1998, just a year after their mother Princess Diana's death.

Speaking with Anderson Cooper for American 60 Minutes, Harry recalled Prince William telling him to pretend not to know him at the school.

"Even when you were in the same school, in high school," Cooper said, "Your brother told you, 'Pretend we don't know each other.'"

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"Yeah, and at the time it hurt. I couldn't make sense of it," Harry responded.

"I was like, 'What do you mean? We're now at the same school'. Like, 'I haven't seen you for ages, now we get to hang out together.' He's like, 'No, no, no, when we're at school we don't know each other.'"

Prince Harry admitted he took this "personally."

"We had a very similar traumatic experience, and then we – we dealt with it two very different ways," he added.

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In Prince Harry's book Spare, out now, he speaks further of his pain at William's request.

His brother had explained to him that Eton had become his "sanctuary" with "no kid brother tagging along, pestering him with questions, pushing up on his social circle."

"I told him not to worry. I'll forget I ever knew you," Harry said in the book.

The duke spoke of his fractured relationship with his brother in an earlier interview with Tom Bradby for ITV, explaining that watching his children Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, has helped him understand William's need for space during that time.

Prince Harry spoke of his deep love for his brother growing up, but added their relationship was "love but also separation."

"But the older, younger sort of sibling rivalry as such, now is only really becoming real to me," he told Bradby.

"For instance, I talk about the relationship between William and myself at Eton and the fact that he didn't really want to know me, and you know, as the younger brother that sucks."

"It's like 'Come on, you left me at Ludgrove and now I'm here at Eton – now we're at the same school, let's go'. He didn't want anything to do with me and that hurt at the time.

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"But now, well the gap between me and William is very similar to Archie and Lili, and to see Lili obsessed with Archie and Archie like 'No, no Lili, I need my space, I need my space', now I get it. I get how irritating the younger sibling can be to the older sibling.

"But in the moment, at the time, I didn't really grasp that, I didn't really realise it, but yes, I've always loved my brother."

Prince Harry spoke of his hope he will repair his relationship with his family and Prince William and Prince Charles in particular, but admitted he hasn't spoken to the pair in some time.