Prince Harry was once 'kindred spirits' with this relative but now their bond has 'entirely evaporated'
It’s not just his brother who he is estranged from, Harry rarely speaks to this former ‘kindred spirit’, claims royal biographer Duncan Larcombe
Of all the late Queen’s grandchildren, Prince Harry once seemed to have a particular bond with Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips (now Tindall).
The cousins shared a fun-loving and at times rebellious streak that seemed to set them apart from the more stuffy and formal members of the family.
Never was this more evident than when Zara and Harry celebrated watching the England team win the final of the Rugby World Cup in Sydney back in November 2003.
Then third in line to the throne, Harry was on a gap year in the host country Australia, while Zara was letting her hair down with pals.
They were kindred spirits who seemed to have so much in common. And, of course, it was during that trip that Zara would meet her future hubby, hunky World Cup hero Mike Tindall.
Harry had already started to earn the tag of the partying, carefree prince, while his cousin had grabbed the headlines for having her tongue pierced - something seen as an un-royal act of rebellion at the time.
Paradoxically, the cousins enjoyed a particular bond with the late Queen Elizabeth, who seemed to have an unlikely soft spot for them both.
They have barely spoken in years... the close friendship almost entirely evaporated
For Harry, Zara was someone who he could be himself with, a family member who shared the same down-to-earth personality, which made her fun to be with.
And for Zara, Harry was someone who she always seemed to gravitate towards as they endured official family gatherings.
How things have changed. Six years after he fled to America, sources say the Duke of Sussex has all but lost touch with his one-time playmate Zara.
In fact, I understand they have barely spoken in the years since the prince, 41, met and married Meghan.
Not only are they said to have drifted apart, but the old close friendship they once enjoyed has, I understand, almost entirely evaporated.
One of the clearest indications of how hard things have become was served up recently by Zara’s husband. Speaking at an event at Hay Festival with his co-hosts from his rugby podcast, Mike hit the headlines for a throwaway comment he made that seemed to sum up Zara’s revised view of Harry in this post-Megxit era.
The former England centre quipped that he knew Harry ‘when he was fun’ – a remark that brought laughter from his fellow broadcaster James Haskell.
On the surface, it may have seemed a fairly harmless remark from someone who was once a drinking buddy of the spare to the heir. But in reality, it could well have hit a sore spot for Harry – after all, Mike, 47, has first-hand experience of what Harry’s cousins really think of him in recent times.
In my opinion, there is no way Mike would have risked incurring the wrath of his wife by making such a comment in public unless it truly reflected how she herself feels.
An outcast in his own family
It suggested something that royal watchers have suspected for several years – that Harry’s cousins feel he has changed a huge amount, and certainly since moving away.
The fun-loving, beer-swilling royal who always managed to ease the tedium of set-piece occasions with his uniquely devil-may-care attitude towards stuffy family gatherings appears to be a thing of the past.
Instead, Harry has, it seems, become an outcast in his own family, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Once the life and soul of the party, he is arguably a shadow of his former self.
Zara is probably far too savvy to risk making such a comment in public. But the fact her husband made it perhaps proves how Harry is viewed by the wider family who once adored him.
There is no doubt that Harry will have been made aware of the comment and it is almost impossible to imagine that it wouldn’t have stung.
Until Mike’s remark, the royals have followed a strict policy of not being drawn into tit-for-tat comments about how Harry is viewed these days. A senior royal source told me, ‘It may have been a throwaway remark, but what Mike said would have really upset Harry.'
'He has been at great pains to convince people he is living the dream since quitting life as a full-time working royal. But it perhaps reveals a lot about how Harry is now perceived by his cousin Zara in the years since he and Meghan cut ties with the family.’
Clearly, and maybe unsurprisingly, Zara seems to have lost touch with the cousin who she once shared so much with. What we don’t know is whether her view comes out of loyalty to William and Kate.
Harry will visit the UK next month, but there are currently no plans for him to see any members of his family, including Zara.
This feature first appeared in Woman magazine. Subscribe now and get your first 6 issues for £1.
