Say what you like about him now, but Prince Harry did always seem like the royal you’d most want to be friends with back in the day.
He was the loosest and most fancy-free of all the royal family, balancing his busy life of public engagements with nights out in Mahiki, Annabel’s and Club H (aka Prince Harry’s personal afters hotspot, located in a bomb shelter on the grounds of Highgrove).
His wedding looked like a blast, too, with hordes of smiling faces dancing alongside the likes of George Clooney, Priyanka Chopra and Elton John as Idris Elba DJed the night away.
But, as it turns out, moving abroad takes a real toll on your friendships — especially if you very publicly divorce your family at the same time, and especially if that family happens to be the most famous family in the world. From David Beckham to the Van Cutsems, here’s everyone Harry is rumoured to have lost along the way.
David and Victoria Beckham take their seats in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018 (Danny Lawson/PA)
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Recently, a funny story emerged about Prince Harry, David Beckham and James Corden back when all three were still mates. The story goes that when the young Prince Harry was first getting to know Corden, he invited the Gavin and Stacey star to a “pre-Christmas boys’ piss up” at the Arts Club in Mayfair, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Corden arrived straight from a performance of One Man, Two Guvnors on the West End, only for Harry to make a comment about his appearance – a comment which the Mail chose not to print.
“[…] it all kicked off, James was furious,” the Mail’s reporting reads. “It quickly emerged that Harry had told a joke and James definitely did not find it funny.” Apparently Corden was so furious at the young prince that David Beckham had to get involved and break it apart: “[David Beckham] talked to both sides and reassured Corden that no harm was meant by the cruel comment.”
Now, Prince Harry remains friends with Corden but not with Beckham. As the Sussexes have grown closer with the Cordens since their emigration to the States, they also appear to have become increasingly distant from the Beckhams.
According to reports, their burgeoning rift went nuclear in the summer of 2023 when Harry and Meghan allegedly accused David and Victoria Beckham of leaking stories about them to the press. A source told the New York Post that this accusation left David “absolutely furious” and completely ended the couples’ friendship. “Any making up now is so unlikely,” the source claimed.
William Van Cutsem and Hugh Van Cutsem Jr
King Charles III, William Van Cutsem and Hugh Van Cutsem Jr
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William van Cutsem and Hugh van Cutsem Jr (two of the four Van Cutsem brothers) were close childhood friends of Prince William and Prince Harry, though they now only speak to one of the two Windsor brothers.
To make the double William problem easier for them and for us, William van Cutsem is thankfully known as “VC” to his friends, and is said by many to be like a brother to Prince William. The two Williams followed in the footsteps of King Charles III and Hugh van Cutsem, who have been friends since they attended Cambridge together. VC and William still see each other frequently and both recently attended the wedding of Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson, at which Prince William was an usher. They also live 20 minutes apart in Norfolk.
Then there’s the younger brother, Hugh van Cutsem Jr. While Hugh was also closer with William, he had a healthy relationship with Harry too. Harry was a senior usher at Hugh’s wedding, and he and his wife Rose reportedly made an effort with Harry and Meghan after she moved to the UK from America. As well as inviting Meghan to dinner at their West London home in 2017, Hugh and Rose also attended the royal couple’s wedding in 2018. They’re best known for the actions of their daughter, Grace, the grumpy bridesmaid who covered her ears on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Rose Astor and Hugh van Cutsem Jr
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The divide between Prince Harry and the Van Cutsems appears to have started in 2020, when Hugh’s wife Rose Astor appeared to make fun of Harry and Meghan’s announcement that they were going to “step back” as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020.
“I am standing back as a senior member of my tax return,” Rose wrote on Instagram, “because I’d rather drink coffee, see my friends, love my family and do yoga.” She later declined to discuss her comments, telling The Scottish Daily Mail: “I’m so sorry, I can’t say anything. I’m sure you understand. I’m going to be in so much trouble.”
Harry confirmed his rift with the Van Cutsems in Spare, his 2023 tell-all memoir. The Duke of Sussex recalled how Hugh van Cutsem Jr’s mother, Emilie, and one of her children (though it wasn’t specified who) contacted him to chastise him after his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. “Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of Hugh and Emilie’s sons, Emilie herself, […] had chastised me for Oprah,” Harry wrote.
Prince Harry and former nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke on April 12, 2006 in Sandhurst
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Prince Harry’s former nanny Alexandra Pettifer, better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, was another person responsible for those chastising phone calls. Though apparently they were more than just boy and nanny, they were friends. “[She was] our favorite nanny, to be accurate,” Harry wrote in Spare, “though Tiggy couldn’t stand being called that. She’d bite the head off anyone who tried. ‘I’m not the nanny, I’m your friend!’”
Pettifer was highly praised through a series of affectionate mentions in Harry’s memoir, including recollections of her presence on various holidays and hunting expeditions. Fond memories aside, Harry also made it clear that Pettifer was another voice of strong disapproval after the Oprah interview.
“Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of (Charles’ friends) Hugh and Emilie’s [Van Cutsem] sons, Emilie herself, and even Tiggy, had chastised me for Oprah,” he wrote in Spare. “‘How could you reveal such things? About your family?’ I told them that I failed to see how speaking to Oprah was any different from what my family and their staffs, had done for decades — briefing the press on the sly.”
Dominic West (Matt Crossick/PA)
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While Prince Harry’s relationship with David Beckham broke down over pointed fingers and wrongful accusations of leaks, his relationship with Dominic West ended over rightful accusations of leaks. Or, more accurately, Dominic West being a chatty cathy.
The actor and the Duke of Sussex bonded after the pair embarked on an expedition through Antarctica together in 2014. But by the time West was called up to play Prince Harry’s father, King Charles III, in The Crown, their friendship had ended.
Speaking of their former friendship on Times Radio in 2023, West revealed that he and Prince Harry no longer speak: “We sort of [lost touch because] I said too much in a press conference, and so, we didn’t speak after that.
“I think I was asked what we did. [And] what we did to celebrate when we got there and [I] probably said too much,” he continued.
The press conference in question took place in 2014, after the expedition, where West revealed that Prince Harry drank champagne out of a false leg, made “eye-wateringly rude jokes,” and was an expert in building makeshift toilets, something West joked was “a royal flush, in every way.”
West admitted in a later interview that he “probably said too much” about their friendship in that press conference.
Tom and Lara Inskip arrive at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in 2018
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Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip was a close friend of Prince Harry’s from Eton, who was dubbed the Prince’s “wingman” during their wild youth. Indeed, Skippy happened to be by the Duke of Sussex’s side during a number of scandals, including when Harry was seen inhaling nos balloons at a party in 2010 and when he photographed nude during a game of “strip billiards” in Las Vegas in 2012.
But according to royal biography Finding Freedom, Tom was doubtful of Prince Harry’s relationship with Meghan. The biography claims that Skippy shared doubts about how quickly the couple’s relationship was moving, and that he told Harry he should move in with Meghan before “doing anything more serious.” (Harry and Meghan eventually moved in together in Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace before they got married in May 2018).
But apparently Harry saw Skippy’s advice as “unsupportive”, leading the school friends to fall out. Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said: “I think we can say that it must be tough for Harry to have lost touch with virtually all his old circle of friends as well as his family.
“But we must assume that he feels that sacrifice is worth it for the life he now has with the woman he loves and the children he adores.”