Just a few years ago it would have been unimaginable to read something like this.

They were two brothers who could not have seemed closer.

We loved seeing them together, we all enjoyed that easy banter between them, like the moment I asked Prince William how he felt to be Prince Harry’s best man, “revenge is sweet, Rhiannon, revenge is sweet,” he replied in front of his brother.

It was a bond cemented by their shared experience of losing their mother and flourished more recently with the work they were so proud of around mental health.

All families and siblings have their disagreements but from the leaked extract from Harry’s new book this split between him and William appears to be more deep and painful than we may have thought, and ultimately unreconciled.

With Harry apparently willing to speak so openly about the rift, it sets fire to any suggestion of olive branches being extended and accepted around the Queen’s death.

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Kensington Palace aren’t commenting but be under no illusion William will, I suspect, be livid. Mainly on a personal level, it will hurt, but then there’s what it means for his public image and whether it will skew how people view him as he works to shape his new position as the direct heir to the throne.

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So far in the UK the Cambridges have maintained more popular support than the Sussexes, but accusations like these from the other side of the Atlantic won’t be welcome.

This week there will be more to come.

Two prime time TV interviews with Harry on Sunday night, and the book hits the shops on Tuesday. But what continues to surprise me is how far Harry has decided to go.

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A man who has a visceral hatred of the press and clickbait culture, and yet in the past couple of months has provided the media with dozens of front pages of soap opera style quotes and allegations.

I understand this is part of his crusade to get his side across, to take on the media, but when it comes to his relationships with his family you can’t help but think there must be a better way.

I will never forget talking to one of Prince Harry’s team in 2016 while we were on a tour of Nepal. I asked where Harry would fit in when William one day became king.

At the time the staff member, who was very close to Harry, was clear Harry would be William’s “wingman”.

While he wanted to carve out his own role he was happy in the future to support his brother and do the things William would no longer be able to do as king.

That would be unthinkable right now.

Time may be a healer, but it’s hard to know how the two brothers come back from this, how trust can be rebuilt when one wants to very publicly share that rift with the world.

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