In a different reality, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle didn’t end up together, and a potential love triangle could’ve cooked up between the Duke of Sussex and his elder brother, Prince William. It all may seem like fan-fiction drawing from The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s whole Conrad-Belly-Jeremiah chaos. However, a former royal butler seems to believe otherwise.

Kate Middleton and Prince Harry now only appear to occupy contrasting headlines hinging on the royal feud that particularly took shape in 2020 when the duke and his wife, Meghan Markle, self-exiled to the United States, renouncing their royal positions. But Grant Harrold, who used to be a butler to King Charles III at one point, suggested that things weren’t always that icy-cold between the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Sussex.

Ex-royal butler says Prince Harry, Kate Middleton could’ve dated

In anticipation of his new book The Royal Butler’s arrival on Tuesday, September 23, Harrold came out for an interview with Us Weekly, spilling how Harry and Kate once “got on so well” that their friendship had him thinking of an elseworld-reality.

Thinking back to the time of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s infamous break-up in 2007, the royal butler once thought “maybe Harry and her would get together. The Prince of Wales and Kate’s separation at the time was only short-lived, as they reconciled in 2008, two years prior to announcing their engagement. Contentious headlines and reports even speculated the then-future couple of going separate ways in 2007 as a possible PR stunt.

The Royal Butler author, on the other hand, had different thoughts on the matter altogether. As per his account, Prince Harry and Middleton were not only close, “they were best friends.” Their proximity had Harrold exclaiming, “I wouldn’t have put it past Harry thinking, ‘Well, she’s a pretty girl, My brother didn’t want her. I’ll have her.’ That wouldn’t have surprised me at all.”

He went on to claim, “It could have been Harry and Catherine easily, I would have thought. But, you know, thankfully [William] got her back.” Grant Harrold reiterated that his beliefs were founded on what he saw in front of him. “What I’m trying to say is, that is how close they are,” he added.

But Prince Harry chose to nudge Prince William in Kate Middleton’s direction instead

Instead of making a sour move at the time, Prince Harry possibly was the one who urged his brother to be cognisant of what was at cost. Harrold suggested that the Duke of Sussex might have knocked some sense into William because everyone acknowledged how “mad” it was for him and Middleton to call it quits. “They were such a good couple together,” the royal insider continued. “…When they separated in 2007, you know, we all wanted [them] to get back together.”

Harrold himself was one such person counting on the Prince William-Kate Middleton agenda, as he claimed to have been “thrilled” when he heard that they were back together.

“He’s not a bad guy,” the royal insider said of Prince Harry, while claiming that he thinks the duke may have surely reached out to Middleton after her cancer diagnosis last year.

Amid Prince Harry’s estrangement from his brother and father, King Charles, the duke and Princess Catherine have also remained on the opposite sides of the royal debate. Tabloids have only escalated the divide by sensationalising the differences between Kate and Meghan Markle, with the UK outlets specifically speaking out in favour of Middleton, especially in light of her cancer diagnosis.