'A wingman, not a hitman.' What Princess Diana would have thought about Netflix's Harry & Meghan.

Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle resigned as working royals in 2020 and moved to the United States, there has been a flurry of headlines, ranging from the good to the bad... to the very bad. The story of Harry and Meghan is a rapidly shifting one, made even more fluid by their recently released Netflix documentary-style series, Harry & Meghan, and by the Prince's upcoming memoir, sharply titled Spare.

Whenever Harry and Meghan do, well, anything, the media runs with a story. So it can be hard to pick out the truth from the rumours. Yet in amongst all the innuendo, all the "he said/she said" whispers, and the countless quotes from "royal sources", there is one grain of truth that can be plucked out: Prince William and Prince Harry have a fractured relationship.

Of course, it wasn't always this way.

Watch: The trailer for Harry & Meghan, the tell-all Netflix series. Story continues below.

The brothers were thick as thieves once, often appearing together at royal engagements and more casual events like polo matches. Their camaraderie was easy to see as they laughed and joked together. Despite their titles, they were just a pair of brothers, and their obvious love for each other endeared them to a world that is perhaps not as forgiving of the institution in which they were born into.

For a time, many people saw William as the protective older brother taking care of a younger Harry, especially after the death of their mother Princess Diana in 1997.

Prince William and Prince Harry in 2018. Image: Getty. 

But being "the heir" and "the spare" means having different life trajectories, and when the brothers got to a crossroads, they both went in opposite directions.

While Prince William is now second in line to the throne and is dutifully following a script that had been written long before he was born, Prince Harry is living in the United States with his wife and their two children. A few years ago, no one would have thought he would be making Netflix TV shows and living in a mansion in Montecito.

As the mixed excitement and animosity around Harry & Meghan reaches fever pitch, most are left wondering what Princess Diana would have thought of the rift between her sons. It's the question put forward to Diana's biographer Andrew Morton as he appeared on No Filter with Mamamia's royal expert Holly Wainwright.

Listen to Andrew Morton's full interview with Holly Wainwright on No Filter. Story continues below.

"Oh, pretty straightforward. [Princess Diana] was pretty clear with me," Morton answered on No Filter. "She said that Harry was William's backup, in the nicest possible way. I'm quoting that directly. She saw him as a wingman to William, and, as I've said before, not a hitman. She would be very upset if Harry uses his position to attack his brother."

As Morton recently told Marie Claire: "I think what everybody should understand about the Royal Family is that inside the family, it's not about popularity, it's about position. And however long Harry lived, he would never oust William from his position as the future King, he would always be number two or number three. And more than that, he would very rapidly go down the pecking order as has, for example, Prince Andrew, from being second in line to the throne for a time in his heyday [to now eighth]."

However, he does think that Princess Diana would also have understood why Harry has done what he has.

"On the one hand, she would admire the fact that Harry's made a break and got out and now lives in California. She would have understood that - she herself looked at Julie Andrews' house in California, she was thinking about living there, she found America a place of openness and opportunity - so, on that side of things, she would have given Harry a round of applause," Morton told The Daily Beast. "Where she wouldn’t have a round of applause for him is this dislocation between the two brothers."

The royal biographer does think Harry will "move on" once his memoir is out, because there is only so long that the Prince can blame his dad, the King, for his troubles. But, like the rest of the world, he wonders what will become of the brothers' relationship.

"At the heart of this, Harry's got to address his brother," Morton told No Filter. "And I'll be interested to see if he lets the punches go in or whether he pulls his punches on his brother, because clearly, that Cain and Abel dynamic is at the heart of the monarchy going forward."

With the remaining three episodes of Harry & Meghan out this Thursday, we'll just have to wait and see.

For more No Filter, go to mamamia.com.au/podcasts/no-filter.

Feature image: Getty.