Royal photographer on the 'tell-tale signs that things weren't going well' between William and Harry

A royal photographer has reflected on the moment he believes the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry started to deteriorate.

The brothers have been estranged for many years but their fallout only became public when Prince Harry began a relationship with Meghan, marrying the former actress in 2018.

But photographer and royal commentator Ian Lloyd believes their tight bond started to break many years before Meghan came onto the scene.

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Looking back on photos he'd taken of William and Harry over the years, Lloyd said he noticed "one or two tell-tale signs that things weren't going that well between the brothers".

He referred to 2008, when Prince Harry returned to the UK after being pulled out of Afghanistan early when celebrity magazine New Idea in Australia broke the media embargo, blowing his cover.

It brought a swift end to Prince Harry's first tour of duty.

"William was there to meet his brother and carry his equipment to their dad's car," Lloyd says in the documentary, William and Harry: The Unseen Photos.

"He, too, looked furious with us and backed his brother all the way.

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"Looking back at my photos with hindsight, I can now see one or two tell-tale signs that things weren't going that well between the brothers."

He also referenced an event a year later involving both brothers.

"When they posed for photos at RAF Shawbury in 2009, where they were both training to be helicopter pilots, they appeared to be going through the motions," he said.

At William's wedding to then-Kate Middleton in 2011, Harry "looked quite fed up", with Harry later writing in Spare that he was not happy about wearing his Blues and Royal uniform.

Lloyd added: "The other reason he looked glum on the way back may be that he realised their lives were now on separate trajectories".

He said: "Marriage to Meghan Markle has given Harry the family unit he so craved, but has also sounded the death knell for his relationship with his brother, which now seems beyond repair".

The documentary William and Harry: The Unseen Photos first premiered on television last September but is being re-shown across select cinemas in the UK this week.

Prince Harry will return to the UK next week to attend the WellChild Awards on September 8, which also happens to be the third anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

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There is speculation the duke could see his father King Charles face-to-face for the first time in nearly two years.

But it's highly unlikely Harry will reunite with Prince William.

"You look at the fractiousness of the relationship of Prince Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royal family," The Mirror's royal editor Russell Myers said on Weekend Today.

"The door might be slightly ajar to meet the King ... but William is not in the mood for forgiving and forgetting."

In May, Prince Harry told the BBC he wanted a reconciliation with his family, but his father was "no longer speaking" to him "because of the security stuff".

He also said that "some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book...Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things".

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