Prince William Ends Friendship with ITV's Tom Bradby Over Sussex Documentary
A new royal biography has claimed that Prince William terminated his longstanding friendship with ITV presenter Tom Bradby after feeling profoundly betrayed by the journalist's participation in a documentary featuring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The book, titled William and Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story by royal reporter Russell Myers, details how the Prince of Wales considered Bradby's involvement in the 2019 ITV programme Harry And Meghan: An African Journey as crossing a significant line.
The Documentary That Fractured a Friendship
The pivotal moment occurred in October 2019 when Bradby conducted interviews with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their tour of southern Africa. These conversations, filmed just three months before the Sussexes announced their departure from royal duties in January 2020, included Meghan thanking Bradby for asking if she was okay and Harry acknowledging that he and William were "on different paths."
According to sources quoted in the book, William perceived Bradby's participation as taking sides in the escalating family dispute. "He considered Tom a friend, they had always got on and Harry was close to him too, but [William] never thought [Bradby] would take a side like he did," a source revealed. "As far as [William] was concerned, the friendship was over there and then."
A Friendship Built Over Decades
The rupture marked a dramatic end to a relationship that had spanned nearly two decades. Bradby first entered royal circles in the early 1990s through Mark Dyer, then Prince Harry's private secretary. He quickly became a trusted journalist for both princes, earning William's private mobile number and filming Harry during his gap year in southern Africa in 2004.
William demonstrated his confidence in Bradby by selecting him to conduct the first joint interview with Kate Middleton following their engagement announcement in 2010. Bradby and his wife Claudia subsequently attended both William's wedding in 2011 and Harry's wedding to Meghan in 2018.
The trust was so profound that when details of a private phone conversation between William and Bradby appeared in a newspaper in 2005, William knew Bradby hadn't leaked them. Instead, Bradby suggested phone hacking might be responsible, helping to initiate what would become the News of the World scandal investigation.
The Aftermath and Continuing Fallout
In the documentary's aftermath, Bradby confessed to feeling "caught in the middle" of the brothers' rift, describing it as "a deeply uncomfortable place to be." Meanwhile, royal advisors reportedly believed Bradby had exploited Harry's "clear vulnerability" during the interviews.
The Sussexes themselves reflected on the documentary's impact in their 2022 Netflix series, with Harry describing the response as "bonkers" and Meghan revealing she hadn't known what questions Bradby would ask beforehand. "I was just really grateful that someone seemed to ask me something like I was a human being," she recalled.
Despite the severed friendship with William, Bradby maintained professional connections with Harry, conducting a 90-minute interview in January 2023 to promote the Duke's memoir Spare. During that conversation, Harry made explosive accusations against his family, comparing them to "abusers" and claiming they were "complicit" in his and Meghan's suffering.
The book's revelations highlight how personal relationships within royal circles have been irrevocably altered by the ongoing tensions between the Prince of Wales and his younger brother, with trusted figures like Bradby becoming casualties in the wider family conflict.
