Prince Harry and Prince William have endured a famously frosty relationship in recent years – with William this week not seeing his younger brother on a whirlwind trip to the UK.

In his book, Spare, Harry went as far to call William his ‘archnemesis’ and said the pair have always ‘competed’ and detailed physical altercations between the pair.

But the brothers were once close, as a newly resurfaced clip has shown Harry saying how the pair can ‘talk about anything’.

In the clip, filmed for Harry’s 21st birthday he gushes:  ‘He is the one person on this earth who, I can actually really, you know, we can talk about anything and we understand each other and give each other support and everything’s fine.’

The pair are believed to have formed a very close bond, united in adversity after the death of their mother Princess Diana in 1997, when Harry was just 12 and William was 15.

In a sweet unearthed interview it’s clear to see just how close the Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales were as Harry revealed they ‘understand each other’ and they can ‘talk about anything’

Elsewhere in the interview Harry added: ‘Every year we get closer. We’ve even resorted to hugging each other now after not seeing each other for long periods of time.

‘And yes, he does ring me when I’m away, and vice versa’.

He added that as they’ve got older, Harry has began to give William advice.

‘Both privately and publicly we talk to each other about everything. If he has problems that he wants to talk about, then he comes to me. And apparently I give him quite good advice.’

Elsewhere in the interview Harry revealed their special bond grew stronger following their mother’s tragic death.

The touching words are a stark contrast to the stormy relations between the royal brothers today.

Prince William was noticeably absent from Harry’s Invictus Games service at St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday.

No senior members of the Royal Family arrived at the event. His father King Charles, and sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, are both undergoing cancer treatment.

As the Duke of Sussex , 39, cut a lonely figure in London for the Invictus Games services yesterday at St.Paul’s Cathedral it became more evident than ever of the royal family rift

Prince William and Prince Harry look serious as they leave the service in celebration of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 2002

The pair didn’t always have a fractured relationship as the two princes once had a very close bond, united in adversity after the death of their mother Princess Diana in 1997, when Harry was just 12 and William was 15 years old

No senior members of the Royal Family arrived at the Invictus Games 10 year anniversary event yesterday (Charles posed with his sons Prince William (R) and Prince Harry (L) during the Royal Family’s ski break at Klosters in 2005)

The rift between the brothers first came to light in 2020, when  Biographer Robert Lacey, a historical consultant for Netflix’s The Crown as well as the author of Majesty, a 1977 study of Queen Elizabeth, penned Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – the Friendship and the Feuds.

He told how he was ‘astonished’ and ‘sometimes moved to tears’ by the fresh details of the rift that emerged while he was researching the conflict.

The book explored conflicts that emerge as a result of the heir and the spare dynamic that permeates British aristocracy, and claims that the ‘seeds of damage were sown’ when William and Harry’s parents’ marriage unravelled.

It will also delve into how the relationship between the two brothers has been impacted by their wives – Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, – and claims to offer more detail on why the Sussexes chose to quit as senior members of the Royal Family and move to Los Angeles with their son Archie.

‘These two brothers – once inseparable and now separated by much more than mere distance – have been acting out the contradictions that go back into their childhoods and even before that: into their parents’ ill-fated marriage.

‘We have seen conflicts between heir and spare in every recent generation of the royal family — but nothing so profound as this.’

He added that writing the book was both ‘painful and enthralling’, admitting: ‘I have been astonished and sometimes moved to tears by the fresh details and insights I have discovered in researching this story of family conflict.

The ‘once unbreakable’ bond between Prince William and Prince Harry has suffered a ‘devastating breakdown’

Relations became so sour that they reportedly didn’t talk for weeks after Harry’s wedding, where William was best man

‘It has been both enthralling and painful to trace this drama through the memories of close witnesses and some of the people most intimately involved.’

The book’s synopsis tells how Lacey investigates the ‘untold reality’ of the brothers’ relationship.

‘Much reported on but little understood, Diana’s boys have lived under constant scrutiny since birth,’ it reads.

‘Raised to be the closest of brothers, the last 18 months has seen a devastating breakdown of their once unbreakable bond.

‘With an unrivalled knowledge of court life and access to impeccable sources, Robert Lacey investigated the untold reality of the brothers’ relationship, explaining what happened when two sons were raised for vastly different futures and showing how the seeds of damage were sown as their parents’ marriage unravelled.’

It is believed the trigger that caused the rift to develop between William and Harry was when the then Duke of Cambridge, advised his younger sibling to ‘take things slow’ when he first began dating Meghan Markle in 2017.

Relations became so sour that they reportedly didn’t talk for weeks after Harry’s wedding, where William was best man. Then Megxit, and the way it was handled, left William and Charles devastated.

In the documentary – Harry & Meghan: An African Journey – the Duke of Sussex, admitted he and William are ‘certainly on different paths at the moment’.

He told ITV’s Tom Bradby: ‘Inevitably stuff happens. But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers.’

A source previously told People that the brothers’ relationship is ‘forever changed’ and they ‘won’t get back to the way they were’. Harry is looking straight ahead at his future with his family,’ they added.