Inside the once friendly bond between Kate Middleton and Prince …

Prince Harry and Kate Middleton once shared a cordial bond for over a decade before their royal rift. The Duke of Sussex reportedly welcomed his new sister-in-law with open arms and soon developed a jovial relationship with her. The pair have known each other since they were teenagers with Kate having met Harry's brother, Prince William, while they were studying at the University of St Andrews.

Many commentators noted how Harry and Kate were more than just in-laws, and shared a bond that was more like brother and sister. Express.co.uk newly unearthed some pictures which depicted that Kate and Harry's relationship was pretty friendly. Taken in June 2008, three years before William married Kate, the Royal Family attended the service for the Most Noble Order of the Garter at St George's Chapel in Windsor.

In the photos, Prince Harry stuck by Kate's side, seemingly helping to ease any apparent nerves she may have had attending such a high-profile royal event.

However, things started to go awry after Harry married his wife Meghan Markle in 2018, which also soured his ties with Kate. In his explosive memoir, Spare, released in January this year, the Duke detailed a physical attack by his brother, William, as their relationship fell apart over the younger prince's marriage to the actor Meghan Markle. Describing a confrontation at his London home in 2019, Harry recounted that William called Meghan "difficult", "rude" and "abrasive", which Harry calls a "parrot[ing of] the press narrative" about his American wife.

The confrontation escalated until William "grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and ... knocked me to the floor."