Jeremy Vine has suggested a controversial theory that Prince William may have played a role in the breakdown of his relationship with Prince Harry, arguing that public enthusiasm for Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding could have fueled tensions within the Royal Family.

During his Channel 5 programme, the broadcaster speculated that William and Kate—who were then known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge—or people connected to them may have wanted to diminish the Sussexes’ growing popularity.

Vine’s comments followed remarks from Harry earlier in the week, when the Duke of Sussex said that “some people don’t want to work it out”—a comment widely interpreted as a criticism of his elder brother.

Speaking to fellow panellists Richard Bacon, Narinder Kaur and Dawn Neesom, Vine outlined what he described as a theory that emerged at the time of the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding. He said the ceremony had been a major public success and that audiences had quickly embraced the couple.

Vine speculated that William and Kate—or, more likely, individuals acting for them—may have felt threatened and attempted to “take them down a peg or two”. In his words, the effort may have had consequences far beyond what was intended.

He argued that the resulting conflict led to intense negative publicity before Harry and Meghan ultimately stepped back from royal duties and moved away from the United Kingdom.

When Bacon referred to reports that the Sussexes and the Waleses had been briefing against one another, Vine said he did not believe Harry and Meghan had initiated the conflict. He claimed the couple had been subjected to extensive negative briefings, calling the situation “horrific”.

Vine was approached for a response and is understood to have been offering his own personal interpretation rather than stating an established fact.

The remarks were broadcast on the October 16 episode of Jeremy Vine on 5, but attracted renewed attention this week after a clip from the discussion was shared on X.

The video was posted alongside a comment questioning Vine’s reasoning and describing his suggestion as an unusual conspiracy theory. The post asked whether the presenter knew something that had not been made public.

The criticism continued by arguing that public opinion had turned against Harry and Meghan because of their own actions, rejecting Vine’s suggestion that the couple had done nothing wrong.

Online reaction to the broadcaster’s comments was sharply divided.

One critic accused Vine of displaying an anti-monarchy bias, writing that his comments revealed his true views and questioning how a television presenter could express such an opinion without consequence.

Another commenter dismissed the idea that William and Catherine would regard Harry and Meghan as a threat, pointing out that the couple are destined to become Britain’s future king and queen.

Not everyone rejected Vine’s explanation, however, with some social media users saying they believed rivalry may have contributed to the royal rift.

One person said they had long suspected that tensions began because William and Kate viewed the Sussexes as competition.

The commenter claimed the Sussexes had been expected to remain quiet and avoid challenging the established royal hierarchy, adding that their decision to respond publicly eventually turned them into major adversaries in the eyes of their critics.

Responding to the reaction today, Mr Vine told the Daily Mail: ‘It was a comment about the Harry and Meghan wedding all those years ago.

‘It always seemed that they got too popular and people on William and Kate’s side briefed against them – but what do I know?’

Mr Vine is not alone in suggesting that the Sussexes had been victims of a briefing war. 

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Prince Harry claimed in his 2022 Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan that he and his brother once had an agreement never to brief against one another in the press.

The deal had been borne out of watching their parents, the then-Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, feeding vicious dispatches to the media through friends.

But the Duke of Sussex alleged that William ultimately reneged on the pact, which led to the couples splitting their royal offices in 2019.

‘I have 30 years experience of looking behind the curtain, and seeing how the system works and how it runs,’ he said in the film. 

‘I mean, just constant briefings about other members of the family, about favors, inviting the press in. It’s a dirty game.

‘William and I both saw what would happen in our dad’s office and we made an agreement that we would never let that happen to our office.

‘I would far rather get destroyed by the press than play along with this game, or this business of trading.

‘And to see my brother’s office copy the very same thing that we promised the two of us would never ever do, that was heartbreaking.’

Neither royal office has ever commented on Harry’s claims, and the brothers have not spoken in four years.

Harry stoked the dispute again this week by suggesting that his older brother ‘didn’t want to work it out’ when it came to reconciliation.

In a wide-ranging 42-minute video interview with GQ Magazine, the Duke said he was grieving his ‘complicated relationships’ with the King and the Prince of Wales.

Asked if he genuinely wanted to heal the rift with his family, Harry said: ‘Of course I do. With everything else that’s going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile. That’s the key point.’ 

But in remarks widely interpreted as a dig at William, he added: ‘Some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to work out.’

A spokesman for the Sussexes has since insisted that the remark was not aimed at the Prince of Wales, insisting it was made ‘in a general context and was not directed at his family in any way’. 

Harry’s comments had threatened to overshadow the Sultan of Oman’s state visit to Britain – but King Charles appeared relaxed as he heaped praise on William in his address to the Arabian royal at a lavish Windsor Castle state banquet on Tuesday.

The King told Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said of his pride that ‘our sons’ – William and the Sultan’s son, the Crown Prince of Oman – had become joint patrons of the Jewel of Arabia cultural expedition in the region last year.

‘Your Majesty, there can be few happier symbols of success than a living relationship being passed from one generation to the next,’ he said.

While the Palaces have maintained an ever-dignified silence, Harry’s recent calls for peace have prompted eye-rolling behind the scenes.

‘Does he really think everyone has collective amnesia after the last few years?’ one source told the Daily Mail last week, after he and wife Meghan made their first public appearance following their surprise return to the UK. 

Several prominent Australian government websites, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, were taken offline after security researchers used artificial intelligence tools to identify critical vulnerabilities.

The outages began late Wednesday and continued into Thursday morning, as organisations around the world moved to respond to serious security weaknesses found in PHP.

PHP is a widely used scripting language for building websites and applications, supporting as many as 70 per cent of websites globally.

As part of their investigation, researchers used technology developed by OpenAI to examine the flaws.

The Australian Signals Directorate, the nation’s leading intelligence agency for intercepting cyber threats, confirmed that its website was among those affected.

The agency said it had no knowledge of the vulnerabilities being actively exploited at that stage, although the threat alert remained at a critical level.

“Organisations and individuals should monitor PHP applications and prepare to update and apply patches,” the agency advised.

The Australian Parliament website was also unavailable earlier on Thursday. Visitors were shown a notice saying intermittent maintenance was under way.

The Parliament website, the ABS and the Australian Cyber Security Centre have since returned online.

A notice published on cyber.gov.au warned that every PHP release from PHP 5 onwards could be vulnerable.

“ASD’s ACSC is currently not aware of active exploitation related to these vulnerabilities,” the notice said.

The office of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed that websites operated by multiple government departments and agencies had been impacted.

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“Some websites are temporarily unavailable as work is undertaken to mitigate risks arising from this vulnerability,” a spokesperson said.

“Organisations and individuals using PHP within their environments should follow advice from the Australian Signals Directorate.”

Cybersecurity specialists have characterised the incident as a warning for governments and businesses that rely on widely deployed software.

“This is a serious flaw in software that can underpin millions of websites and has the potential to expose sensitive information and allow hackers to take control of vulnerable systems,” Swinburne Business School’s Dimitrios Salampasis told news.com.au.

Scarlett McDermott, director of the Australian Information Security Association, warned that the vulnerability could have significant consequences for cybersecurity.

‘Vulnerabilities that might once have remained undiscovered for years can now be identified much more quickly, and attackers can potentially exploit them just as quickly,’ she told The Australian.

‘If you don’t know what software you’re running, you can’t know whether you’re vulnerable. And if you can’t identify affected systems quickly, you can’t patch them quickly enough.’ 

PHP developers have since released urgent new fixes for two critical vulnerabilities that had been lurking in their software for years.

‘These releases fix two critical vulnerabilities that, under the right conditions, allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute code on servers running PHP,’ a PHP Foundation blog post read.

‘If you run PHP, it is imperative that you update now.’

Government agencies in the Netherlands and Finland were among those that took sites offline ahead of the fix as a precaution.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten was closely monitoring the situation while Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged website owners to use a new fix.

The Princess of Wales put on a hard hat and high-visibility gilet as she returned to the Suffolk children’s hospice where she delivered her first public speech after marrying Prince William.

Kate, who attended a glittering state banquet with the King and Queen on Tuesday evening wearing a dazzling tiara, embraced a very different look this morning while touring construction work at The Treehouse in Ipswich.

The future queen, 44, officially opened the “inspirational” charity facility in 2012 as patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, while Prince William was serving in the Falklands as an RAF search and rescue pilot.

Fourteen years on, Kate revisited The Treehouse as it undergoes a multi-million-pound expansion designed to meet growing demand for its services.

Despite the practical safety gear, the Princess of Wales maintained a polished appearance in head-to-toe Victoria Beckham, wearing a £1,325 khaki power suit from the designer’s label.

The ensemble comprised the £850 Katherine jacket, £475 matching trousers and a £520 black lambswool polo neck. Kate completed the outfit with a £290 burgundy belt featuring a gold buckle.

During the visit, the Princess learned more about the life-changing care, compassion and connection offered to children living with life-limiting conditions and their families.

Kate was also introduced to 12-year-old Charlotte Freegard, who has received support from East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, known as EACH, since 2021.

Charlotte has Nemaline myopathy, a rare muscle disorder that causes weakness throughout the body, particularly affecting the face, neck and limbs.

EACH chief executive Kevin Clements has described the £6.3 million expansion as “one of the most important building projects” currently taking place in Suffolk. He stressed that the scheme represents far more than a construction project.

“It’s about making sure every family who needs us feels seen, supported and can access our care – wherever they live and whatever their background,” he said.

During her first visit to the hospice in 2012, Kate planted a tree and said: “Today I have seen again that The Treehouse is all about family and fun. For many, this is a home from home – a lifeline enabling families to live as normally as possible during a very precious period of time.”

She added: “What you do is inspirational. It is a shining example of the support and care delivered not just here, but throughout the children’s hospice movement up and down the country.”

“The feelings you inspire – feelings of love and hope – offer families the chance to live a life they never thought could be possible,” Kate said, prompting loud cheers from the crowd.

The Treehouse currently includes five children’s bedrooms, along with accommodation where families can stay overnight.

The hospice provides a range of therapeutic services – from a sensory garden and music studio to a hydrotherapy pool – to ensure the best quality of life for the babies, children and young people receiving care at The Treehouse. 

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The expansion plans include a new hydrotherapy pool, wellbeing and therapies suite, a larger care activity area, an additional children’s bedroom and expanded kitchen and dining facilities. 

Mr Clements previously said ‘more space is desperately needed’ at The Treehouse so that it can continue to provide world-class care to the children and families that rely on the facility. 

‘This project will enable us to provide more space for group activities, wellbeing activities, bereavement support,’ the EACH chief executive told the BBC. 

‘It provides more privacy for families when we are managing end-of-life care for babies, children and young people.’

Construction work is expected to be completed by early 2028 after planning permission was granted last November. 

The princess will today learn how EACH is fundraising for the expansion while continuing to provide vital day-to-day care and support for families. 

The charity has confirmed £4million of the funding has already been secured and that it has until October 2027 to raise the balance.  

Kate will also meet some of these children and families to learn how the complementary creative therapies they receive have enhanced their emotional and social wellbeing. 

It was announced that Kate would become patron of the Treehouse in January 2012 after researching a selection of charities. 

Her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, opened Each’s first hospice in Milton, Cambridgeshire, in 1989.  

Kate’s engagement in Ipswich comes days after she joined the King, Queen and Prince William at a glittering state banquet for the  Sultan of Oman – on the same day that Prince Harry insisted he wanted to reconcile with his family. 

The monarch was accompanied by William and Kate, Queen Camilla, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester as they hosted Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said and his retinue in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle.

Kate wore an ethereal pale yellow Elie Saab gown with a cape detail and train, which she paired with her favourite Lover’s Knot tiara, diamond earrings and a bracelet belonging to the late Queen Elizabeth. 

William was dressed for the occasion in a white tie with the Windsor tail coat, his Most Noble Order of the Garter Sash with the Lesser George and other medals and decorations.

On the same day, Prince Harry insisted he wants to reconcile with his family after denying he was taking a ‘swipe’ at his brother, William, when he said: ‘Some people don’t want to work it out.’ 

The Duke of Sussex, who has not spoken to William for four years, admitted in an interview with GQ that he is grieving his ‘complicated relationships’ with the King and the Prince of Wales.   

It comes after Kate urged that ‘spending quality time outdoors has never been more important’ in a poignant message to parents.

Kate spoke from the heart about her lifelong initiative to better the lives of young children – urging parents to get youngsters to put down their phones and enjoy the great outdoors.

‘Nature is such an extraordinary environment for us all and, in this tech-driven, digital age, spending quality time outdoors has never been more important,’ the future queen said in a video shared to the couple’s official Instagram.

Kensington Palace also released a new series of portraits of Kate in the countryside taken by Josh Shinner.

The princess looked radiant in her favourite wax jacket, under which she wore a patterned jumper and pie-frill blouse. Her hair was styled in loose waves.

The video was filmed yesterday in Cornwall with the support of the Prince of Wales. Given that he runs The Duchy of Cornwall, Prince William is said to be taking a keen interest in the project.