The feud between Prince William and Harry is a war that continues to rage in the royal household.
But palace insiders claim that the origins of the brothers’ disagreement predates the Duke of Sussex’s relationship with Meghan Markle.
Instead they trace the royal rift to the brothers’ differing approach to wildlife conservation.
A source told the Times that, despite sharing a passion for preserving protected species, the pair had opposing views on how to manage projects in Africa.
They said while the Prince of Wales was said to support community-led initiatives to help local people conserve the land, the Duke of Sussex favoured a more interventionist approach.
Harry’s hands-on methods came under scrutiny this week following reports that he warned about rapes and human rights abuses by rangers employed by African Parks, a charity of which he was President for six years, before moving on to the governing board of directors last year.
Since then, he has faced calls to quit the role amid outrage from Survival International, which advocates the rights of indigenous peoples.
The claims, which were also reported by The Mail on Sunday, included allegations of park rangers raping a young mother while she held her two-month-old baby, and another sex attack on an 18-year-old boy.
African Parks, which manages national parks in 12 African countries through government partnerships, has been confronted by first-hand testimonies that the Baka an indigenous people have been subjected to disturbing intimidation.
It is claimed they have been stopped from entering forests where they have foraged, fished, hunted and found medicine for millennia.
Survival International wrote in its letter to Prince Harry last May about ‘violent intimidation and torture’ that had taken place, including the rape of a young mother by a guard.
The strong-grip approach favoured by Harry is reliant on large contributions from western donors.
Harry himself described ‘almost coming to blows’ with William in front of childhood mates in his autobiography Spare.
In response to a question about why the two brothers both worked in Africa, the Prince of Wales is said to have replied ‘Because rhinos, elephants, that’s mine!’.
The Duke of Sussex is not paid for his work with African Parks, but enjoys considerable influence over how 49.4million acres of protected land is managed, and is able to network with the charity’s large donors, including Walmart’s Walton family and the Oppenheimers.
African Parks said on Saturday that it had a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy for any form of abuse and is ‘committed to upholding the rights of local and indigenous people’.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
