Whoopi Goldberg has predicted that Prince Harry and his estranged brother, Prince William, will eventually achieve a peaceful reconciliation, saying she believes the Duke of Sussex genuinely wants to repair relations with his family.
Discussing Harry’s interview with GQ on The View, the actress and broadcaster questioned whether speaking publicly about the rift would help to mend relations, but said: “I do believe he would like to.”
Goldberg later went further, adding: “I think it’ll happen.”
Her comments came after Harry said he wanted to restore his relationship with his brother and father. In the interview, he said: “I want it to work out. Of course I do,” while suggesting that “some people don’t want it to work out”.
Harry described reconciliation as “the key point” amid wider turmoil in the world and said he “grieves” the loss of his relationship with William.
Co-host Sara Haines said she hoped the brothers would eventually reach a “peaceful reconciliation”, referring to the bond they shared through their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
“That love of their mother was shared only between those two boys,” she said.
Sunny Hostin, another panellist, said she hoped the brothers would resolve their differences, pointing to Goldberg’s personal relationship with Harry. “I don’t know Harry. I know Whoopi does and has a relationship with him. I hope they do work it out,” she said.
Calls for Harry and William to resolve rift privately
Hostin also praised the reception Harry and Meghan received during their recent visit to Nottingham, where members of the public greeted and embraced the Duchess of Sussex.
She said she was pleased to see “women of colour just hugging Meghan and welcoming her back when she had received so much bad press”, describing the visit as “a step in the right direction”.
Hostin said returning to Britain could bring Harry’s children closer to their wider family and culture. She suggested that his public comments about reconciliation may be intended to ensure his relatives hear his wishes.
“I suspect one of the reasons why he is publicly saying that he wants to reconcile is so that they hear it,” she said.
However, fellow panellist Ana Navarro argued that any attempt to rebuild trust should take place away from the media. She said the rift had been worsened by the amount of “dirty laundry” aired publicly and urged Harry to contact William directly.
“It needs to be dealt with privately, not with interviews and tell-all books and selling documentaries and things like that,” Navarro said. “At some point he’s going to need to pick up the phone or go see his brother and have it out.”
The strained relationship between the royal brothers has been the subject of years of public discussion, particularly since Harry and Meghan’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Further revelations followed in the couple’s Netflix documentary and Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare. In the book, Harry described William as his “archnemesis” and alleged that his brother had physically attacked him during an argument.
