The British press has this thing where they act like it’s super-tacky and against class rules to make new friends in adulthood. If a British person has gone to a posh private school, that means their childhood family friends and school friends are supposed to be the only friends they have throughout their life. So it is with Prince William, who is still in the same friend group he’s had since childhood. His closest friends are people like Edward and Jake van Cutsem, Thomas van Straubenzee and Ben Dawes. All of those men dropped everything in the middle of this week to fly to Istanbul to watch Aston Villa win a title. Because William is an emotionally-stunted dolt, the Daily Mail has to underline the fact that William still hangs out with his childhood friends and that (according to William) Prince Harry is jealous of this. From the Mail’s latest, “How William took over the ‘band of brothers’ he once shared with Harry: Prince’s night out at the football will touch a nerve with his brother.”

As the Prince of Wales laughed and cried while Aston Villa secured its first major trophy in 30 years last night, he was joined by his equally enthusiastic ‘band of brothers’ – some of whom he has known since childhood.

It included old pal Ben ‘Dawesey’ Dawes, Thomas van Straubenzee, 43, and Edward van Cutsem, 53, one of the sons of banker Hugh and his wife Emilie van Cutsem – who the future King grew up with.

But the scenes, which saw William, 43, emotionally fling his arms around the group of men who had watched the royal’s favourite team defeat SC Freiburg during the UEFA Europa League Final in Istanbul, are likely to have stirred some sore emotions for the Duke of Sussex.

Rather than singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ and partying it up with football players alongside William and his squad, Harry is miles away in Montecito after leaving royal duties behind in 2020.

William van Cutsem, 47 – Edward’s brother – and Thomas were boyhood friends with William and Harry and their families have remained closely entwined since, from high society events to charity partnerships, to godparent duties and being ushers at each others’ weddings.

But after Harry made his move to California six years ago, and laid bare his grievances with the family in a tell-all memoir, Spare; his connections with old friends have suffered alongside the well-documented rift with his family. Thomas is known as William’s best friend and in the wake of Megxit, sources said the future King was leaning on his old pal for support while Harry turned to another van Straubenzee brother, Charlie.

Meanwhile, Harry himself confirmed in his memoir Spare that he’d experienced a rift with some members of the van Cutsem family who didn’t approve of his tell-all Oprah interview.

‘Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of Hugh and Emilie’s sons, Emilie herself, and even Tiggy, had chastised me for Oprah,’ the Duke had penned. ‘How could you reveal such things? About your family?’

Harry’s changed dynamic with the van Cutsems and van Straubenzees isn’t the only friendship change he’s experienced in recent times, including his bond with Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. The Duke, one of the UK’s biggest landowners, is a close friend of both Harry and William, and godfather to Prince George and also to Prince Archie. But Harry’s transatlantic dash has seen him miss multiple friendship milestones, ranging from a low-key football match to his perhaps more painful absence from Hugh’s 2024 wedding to Olivia Henson.

The billionaire aristocrat was reportedly keen to invite the Sussexes but mutually agreed with Harry that it would be better if they didn’t attend so the occasion wouldn’t be overshadowed by royal tensions. It’s a far cry from Hugh’s once-close relationship with the Montecito-based father-of-two, who was reportedly earmarked as Hugh’s best man at one point prior to his exclusion from the society wedding.

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s not enough that William’s favorite team won a championship for the first time in 30 years – he had to bitterly (or smugly?) remind everyone that Harry wasn’t there, and that all of their childhood family friends have “chosen” Team Peggy. Which reminds me of another part of Spare, one of the sections which the Mail rarely references – when Harry described spending time with his closest and dearest friends at his wedding, none of whom were William or this group. It also reminds me of Sentebale/Sophie Chandauka’s curious and still ongoing lawsuit against Harry and Mark Dyer, who is one of Harry’s closest allies and friends. It’s not enough that William “got” all of their childhood friends – William has also spent years trying to punish people for daring to take Harry’s side or daring to remain friends with Harry.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix screencaps.