Are Prince William And Prince Harry Close With Their Step-Siblings?

It's no secret that William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, aren't Camilla, Queen Consort's biggest fans. It's common knowledge that she and King Charles allegedly engaged in an affair while he was still married to Diana, Princess of Wales. So it's understandable why William and Harry's relationship with Camilla would be somewhat strained.

Per Biography, Camilla Parker-Bowles was deemed too low on the social ladder to marry the future King of the United Kingdom and Great Britain. Lord Louis Mountbatten pressured Charles into finding a younger, nobler, virginal bride, resulting in his doomed union with 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer. However, Charles eventually achieved his Camilla marriage dream anyway. "Despite Willy and me urging him not to, Pa was going ahead. We pumped his hand, wished him well. No hard feelings," Harry wrote in "Spare" (via Time).

After Camilla officially joined The Firm, William and Harry were obliged to play nice in public. Still, the brothers weren't happy about it, and it was a different story behind the scenes. They believed their dad's new wife was a schemer and a bad influence on him. "Give Pa and Camilla an inch, [William] said, they take a mile," Harry wrote in "Spare." But Charles' sons didn't just inherit a stepmother that day; they also got new step-siblings, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, from Camilla's marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles. Still, you rarely see Camilla's children at royal events. So, are Prince William and Prince Harry close with their step-siblings?

Camilla, Queen Consort's children, Tom Parker Bowles, and Laura Lopes aren't frequent fliers in royal circles. New York Post reports the last function they attended was the Queen's state funeral in 2022. So, how is William, Prince of Wales, Harry, Duke of Sussex, and their step-siblings' relationship? Despite the Camilla issues, they stem way back. Per the Post, William and Harry attended Lopes' wedding in 2006, and she was a guest at theirs. Her daughter, Eliza Lopes, was even Catherine, Princess of Wales' bridesmaid.

Parker Bowles keeps a lower royal profile, which could result from his tabloid cocaine sting. According to the BBC, an angry King Charles tore a strip off Parker Bowles following the 1999 drug scandal. They reported it wasn't Parker Bowles' first time at the drugs rodeo either — he was previously cautioned for possessing weed and ecstasy. Although Parker Bowles claimed on "Good Morning Britain" (via Express) that he and Lopes are noble non grata because they're "not quite part of the royal family, to be honest."

"My mother married into it. She's part of it," he said. "We're the common children. We're just on the side." Meanwhile, William has allegedly told his stepmother, in no uncertain terms, that's the only role she'll play in his life. "William has made it clear that Camilla is the wife of his father, but not a step-grandmother to his children," royal author Angela Levin wrote in "Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort."

Out of all the step-siblings, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Tom Parker Bowles were the most likely to hit it off. They're both bon-vivant adventurers, party boys-turned-loving dads, and published authors. Per The Sun, Parker Bowles is an Eton alumni — like Harry and William — and a food critic, writer, and cookbook author. Meanwhile, as Newsweek reports, Harry's been open about his past use of recreational drugs and love of partying.

However, any chance of Harry having a relationship with either of his step-siblings has seriously decreased since "Spare." Time notes that the book doesn't paint Camilla in the best of lights. Harry claims she immediately turned his bedroom into her dressing room when he left home. He accuses her of being manipulative and even "dangerous." Yet more damning, Harry accuses Camilla of leaking personal family stories to the press and using a "spin doctor" to make him look like a villain and his father a saint.

Parker Bowles has always been, and remains, a staunch defender and champion of Camilla. In an interview with "BBC Five Live" (via Hello!), he bigged up his mom, praising her as a hard worker, a fantastic grandma, and tough as old boots. He admitted that he's learned to tune out the adverse reports about his family over time. "There's absolutely nothing anyone can say about my mother or myself or my stepfather that we haven't heard before," Parker Bowles said. Although, the interview was pre-Harry tell-all.