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LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 05: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry join Team Heads Together at a London Marathon Training Day at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on February 5, 2017 in London, England.
Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

‘He said I wasn’t well’: Prince William accused Prince Harry of being ‘brainwashed’ after he teared up for the most understandable reason

Who wouldn't get emotional in the same situation?

2025 marks five full years since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle split from the Royal Family, so with half a decade having elapsed there’s much speculation over whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might be on the cusp of a reconciliation with their estranged relatives. Even Kate Middleton is said to be determined to convince Harry and big brother Prince William to let bygones be bygones.

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The problem, though, is that how can the family feud be left in the past when all the grisly details of why the two sons of King Charles fell out in the first place are known to the whole world? Harry’s decision to spill his secrets in Spare is one that’s come back to haunt him time and time again, and the less-than-flattering way William comes across in the memoir is likely a big reason why he’s reluctant to welcome his little brother back home.

Take, for instance, the time when he allegedly accused Harry of being mentally unwell… because he got emotional in public for the most natural of reasons.

Prince William blasted Prince Harry for bursting into tears on TV

As per one of the many shocking sibling clashes detailed in Spare, Harry and William were locked in an argument for a full 72 hours after the Prince of Wales lambasted his brother for tearing up during a televised awards show, despite it being for a completely understandable reason. He even went so far as to claim that Harry was “unwell” and had been “brainwashed.”

At the 2019 WellChild Awards, one of the charities closest to Harry’s heart which honors seriously ill children and their families, Harry arrived on stage to give a speech about how much this ceremony meant to him because he and Meghan had recently become parents — Prince Archie had been born the previous year, in 2018. After glancing at his wife in the crowd, Harry became emotional and required a moment to pull himself together, earning him a round of applause from the audience and an affectionate rub on the shoulders from presenter Gabby Roslin (who happened to be an old friend of Princess Diana’s).

“I walked onstage, began my brief remarks, and caught sight of Meg’s face. I thought back to a year ago… We’d been filled with hope, and worry, like all expectant parents, and now we had a healthy little boy at home,” Harry recalled about the incident in his book. “But these parents and children hadn’t been so lucky. Gratitude and sympathy converged in my heart, and I choked up.”

The clip went viral at the time (see above) for this unusual moment of emotional honesty from a member of the Royal Family. And this is apparently something that William didn’t appreciate. In Spare, Harry writes that he received a “text from Willy” soon after the awards show. “He said I was clearly struggling, and he was worried about me. I thanked him for his concern, assured him I was fine,” the duke wrote. “I’d become emotional in front of a roomful of sick kids and their folks just after becoming a father myself—nothing abnormal in that.”

The exchange soon grew heated, however, when William blamed the teary moment on Harry’s recent therapy sessions. “He said I wasn’t well. He said again that I needed help. I reminded him that I was doing therapy,” Harry continued. “In fact, he’d recently told me he wanted to accompany me to a session because he suspected I was being ‘brainwashed.’ Then come, I said. It will be good for you. Good for us. He never came.”

Harry elaborated, “His strategy was patently obvious: I was unwell, which meant I was unwise. As if all my behavior needed to be called into question.” The prince added that the ensuing argument “stretched over seventy-two hours” and that he and his brother had never had such a furious fight over text like that before.

Hopefully, these days William would be more understanding of his brother’s teary moment. Ironically, the future king himself has recently been more publicly emotional than is typical for a Royal. Although he’s yet to get choked up on TV in quite the same way, he has been open about how 2024 was the “hardest year” of his life and then there was Kate’s remission announcement video, which depicted the Waleses kissing intimately. Whether both boys are now emotionally mature enough to let these old grievances go, however, is the big question.


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Christian Bone
Editor and Writer
Christian Bone is a Staff Writer/Editor at We Got This Covered. Since graduating with a Creative Writing degree from the University of Winchester, he has been cluttering up the internet with his thoughts on movies and TV for over a decade. The MCU is his comfort place but, if you asked him, he'd probably say his favorite superhero film is The Incredibles.