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    Queen Elizabeth was "shocked and saddened" by Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's response last week to her official statement about her decision to strip the Sussexes of their ceremonial titles and patronages. But there is one member of the Royal Family who was and still is "absolutely furious" over it. A royal source told Best Life that Prince William was "seething with anger" over what he perceived to be "absolute disrespect of Her Majesty in a very public way." Harry and Meghan's stinging words came shortly after their announcement that they would be sitting down with Oprah Winfrey for a Mar. 7 tell-all interview on CBS, which the insider said is "the final straw" in the brothers' already fractured relationship. The Sussexes' decision to do the interview is drawing comparisons to Princess Diana's explosive 1995 sitdown with Martin Bashir that proved disastrous for both the princess and the royals. It was a choice she came to regret. Nearly three decades later, William simply cannot fathom why any member of the Royal Family would open themselves up to that kind of scrutiny and drag the rest of the family into it, knowing how devastating it could be for all parties involved.No one had been told Diana was doing that infamous BBC interview, including William and Harry. The headmaster at Eton College, where William was studying at the time, arranged for the prince to watch it alone in his office. When Diana arrived to talk to her son the day after the premiere of the interview—during which she questioned Prince Charles' suitability to be king and talked of his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles—William refused to see his mother. "He loved his mother very much," said an insider. "But at the time, he thought the interview was a stunning betrayal. He could not understand why Diana would publicly say the things she did about his father and the monarchy."The source continued, "Harry choosing to do a no-holds-barred interview with the most famous interviewer and personality in the world has resurrected all those memories for William." According to the insider, Harry's decision has pushed the brothers' once-strong bond "into the abyss." "If there is going to be any kind of reconciliation between the brothers, it will be very far down the line now, if ever," the source said.Read on for the stunning reasons behind what could be an irreparable break between the brothers, and for more on the latest with the House of Windsor, check out Prince Harry Is Preparing to Rush to Prince Philip's Side, Say Insiders. William has always been wary of the media, while Harry has seemingly started to embrace it. Diana's death fostered a deep mistrust and dislike of the media in William, so much so that the Palace had to, at his request, negotiate an agreement with the press that the prince be left alone during his time at St. Andrews University on the condition he would make himself available for periodic press calls, which he reportedly hated. When he and Kate graduated and his then-girlfriend was being hounded by photographers, he filed a formal complaint with the Press Commission. Today, the prince still keeps the press at arm's length, but he has learned to give the media just enough access to his own family and the royals so as to protect them while satisfying his duty as heir.Harry has filed numerous lawsuits against the media for what he considers harassing and untrue stories written about Meghan and their relationship. He also told Tom Bradby in the now infamous ITV interview that every time he sees a wall of flashbulbs, it brings him back to his mother's tragic death. But now living in America, Harry has seemingly adopted more of a celebrity's mindset towards the press.William spoke about the media for the very first time in the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy. His poignant remarks may hint at why he reportedly feels angry and confused over Harry's decision to do the interview with Oprah. “Harry and I lived through [the media's obsession with Diana and its fatal consequence], and one lesson I’ve learned is you never let [the media] in too far, because it’s very difficult to get them back out again," he said. "You’ve got to maintain a barrier and a boundary, because if both sides cross it, a lot of pain can come from it." And for more on the tragedy of the People's Princess, check out The 6 Biggest Unanswered Questions Surrounding Princess Diana's Death. Tensions between William and Harry started long before Meghan came along. In the fall, royal historian Robert Lacey told Best Life that the toxic combination of William and Harry's traumatic upbringing due to their parents' "loveless, arranged" marriage and their mother's shocking death caused some long-simmering feelings of resentment that culminated in a rift so deep, it imperils the very future of the monarchy."Most everyone thought the dual traumas of their parents' marriage and their mother's tragic death were in the past," Lacey told Best Life in Oct. 2020. But that proved not to be the case. "They are the legacy of all that heartache," he added. And for more on what Lacey thinks Diana would've done about their divide, check out Diana Would Have Healed William and Harry's Rift, Says Royal Biographer. Harry reportedly took William's early concern about his relationship with Meghan as an insult and sign of disrespect. When Harry began to date Meghan in 2016, William reportedly reminded his brother of the advice their mother had once given them. A royal insider told Best Life in Mar. 2020, "Both William and Harry knew how deeply unhappy their mother was over her disastrous marriage to Charles. She wanted that to be a cautionary tale for them. Diana and Charles were alone together a little over a dozen times before they were married. They both had second thoughts, but felt a duty to go through with it. Diana told William and Harry to make absolutely sure the woman they wanted to marry was 'the one' and not to rush or be forced into anything."William reportedly reminded Harry of their mother's warning, according to Daily Mail, asking his brother: "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?" My sources confirmed that Harry was deeply hurt and offended by William's question. "Harry felt that William was dismissive of his relationship with Meghan from the start," my source said. "That never changed, things only got worse." And for more royal news delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. William and Harry seemingly interpreted Princess Diana's life advice very differently. William and Harry seemingly internalized Diana's advice to take time to find the right person and marry for love very differently. William and Kate Middleton started dating at university and were together for eight years before getting engaged; Harry and Meghan were in their 30s when they met and dated for two years before they married. "Harry set out to marry for love at any cost, while William took his mother's words quite seriously and took his time to make sure royal life would suit Catherine and she would be a good fit within the family," said a royal insider. "As the future king, both love and duty figured equally in his mind." And for more on William's future as king, check out Can the Monarchy Survive Without Queen Elizabeth? Any glimmer of hope of a reconciliation between William and Harry has now been dashed. Lacey—whose book Battle of Brothers: William&Harry—The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult chronicles their complicated relationship—told Best Life in October that there were hopes that the one-year review of the Sandringham Summit, which had originally been scheduled for next month, "might produce some sort of reconciliation." But instead, according to another royal source, the Sussexes' early decision to finalize their split from the Royal Family in such a public way and their plans to air what is expected to be an interview full of bombshell revelations to a worldwide audience has made that "impossible anytime in the foreseeable future." And for more facts about their mother, check out Here's the Truth Behind the Biggest Myths About Princess Diana.Diane Clehane is a New York-based journalist and author of Imagining Diana and Diana: The Secrets of Her Style.

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  • Outdoor Adventure Sports Aren’t Inclusive Enough — Here’s How One Woman Is Working To Change That

    As an acclaimed skydiver, an active hiker, and a military veteran, Danielle Williams is nothing short of fearless when it comes to facing the great outdoors. But for all her experience, she says it hasn’t always been easy to find other Black women to connect with in the “outdoors community.” Growing up in a military family in the suburbs of D.C., Williams hiked and biked almost daily — but as she got older, she began to note the glaring absence of diversity in the outdoor spaces she frequented. And upon entering the realm of skydiving, that void became even more apparent. So, in recent years, she’s vowed to do something about it: As the founder and senior editor of Melanin Base Camp, an editorial platform launched in 2016 to promote accessibility in outdoor adventure sports, she oversees a team of writers who blog about biking, climbing, base jumping, and more. In 2018, Williams broadened the scope of her advocacy with the launch of Diversify Outdoors, a broader coalition of independent influencers leveraging their collective followings to promote diversity in outdoor spaces through brand partnerships, awareness plays, and the use of the movement’s eponymous hashtag. Of course, these days, Williams’ adventures are being kept to a minimum while she stays close to home due to the pandemic. “I’m on immunosuppressive medications, so I have not been getting outside — or anywhere — as much as I would like,” she says. Still, even while staying indoors, she’s excited to continue creating content that encourages all folks to get outside. “We’re not just writing about the most difficult hikes. We want to make sure that our writing is very accessible and user-friendly,” she explains. “For anyone who’s new to the outdoors, we’re making sure they feel welcome. We’re making content that makes sense for them.” And right now in particular, while so many facets of daily life are more difficult than ever before, the open air can be an entirely necessary enrichment. That’s why we sat down with Williams for a better look at how she cultivated her love of adventure, and how she’s making space for women of color in the outdoors at large. Did you grow up participating in “adventure sports”? I come from a large family and we spent a lot of time outdoors together. I don’t think I heard the word “hiking” until I was older — but we did a lot of walking. My mom was also into running, and I picked up a love of running from her. Both my parents were in the military, so we stayed very active. Plus, we grew up in the suburbs, so I rode my bike everywhere I went. How did you get into skydiving? The first time I jumped out of a plane was after my sophomore year of college. I always knew I wanted to enroll in the army — which was reassuring when I was in college because I was graduating in 2008 during the recession. When I joined ROTC, I did a great deal of parachuting — which also involves jumping from planes. But I didn’t do my first proper skydive until I was 25, on my birthday. Who were some of the Black women that you looked to as you began to develop a love for new outdoor activities? When it comes to skydiving, I didn’t know any Black women when I got started in the sport, and wouldn’t meet any until much later. It’s not that Black women don’t skydive — we just have a high rate of attrition due to a number of factors. So unfortunately when I first started out, I didn’t have any Black woman role models. How did the outdoors come to figure as something so important in your life –– rather than just a casual hobby? Back in 2014, I started a collective for skydivers of color called Team Blackstar with a couple of friends. I’m still connected to those people online — many of whom I haven’t met in person. But, in 2016, I got rheumatic fever [an inflammatory autoimmune disease]. I was really ill and I was in the hospital for a while and being stuck indoors for all that time really made me miss that community. When you’re skydiving, you’re out there every weekend spending a lot of time with your friends in this very conditional setting — so losing that sense of in-person community really pushed me to look for one online. But, when I started searching, I was like, ‘Oh, this space looks really empty.’ There just wasn’t a common platform for people of color exploring outdoor activities to connect. It was really hard to find each other. That’s where the idea for Melanin Basecamp was born. Skydiving is relatively niche, so unlike with Team Blackstar, Melanin Basecamp also focuses on hiking and other outdoor hobbies, which makes it easier to connect with people from all different levels of experience. I wanted to find or create a platform for all things outdoors. How much of your work focuses on connecting with people of color who are already into the outdoors, as opposed to POC who think that those spaces aren’t for them? When we got started, we used words like ‘adventure athlete,’ which don’t really resonate with Black and brown communities. That was the phrasing I’d learned growing up, so that was the terminology I was using — but at that stage, I was only catering to people who considered themselves to be experts in their chosen fields. My mindset has definitely changed over time, because that’s just such a small category of people. We still have that core group of people who have been hiking or climbing or snowboarding or base jumping, or whatever they’re into, for a long time, but now, we’re working on reaching people who are newish to the outdoors, too. As a platform, we’ve grown a lot to be more mindful of accessibility — or the need to override a lot of the elitist barriers and unnecessary obstacles to the outdoor activities that we enjoy. So many Black creatives, activists, and community builders saw an unprecedented uptick in followers during the summer of 2020 as Black Lives Matter protests swept the country. How have you dealt with this increased visibility? This year, people started discovering our articles on Melanin Basecamp, some of which were as old as two or three years old. We also got donations coming out of nowhere to our website in the wake of the BLM protests. And right now, more white people are following us than ever before. So, with that, the demand for the type of content we produce has definitely shifted. It’s been weird, because we’re not necessarily writing for a white audience. We have a lot of people showing up on our page who want to be taught or told what to do — and that’s great, I just think there are other pages that do a better job of that. Our content has always been by people of color, for people of color. What do your days look like now? I have a cat, he’s great. His name is Mister Jimbo. I work from home. I traveled a lot for work as a social media editor for the National Business Aviation Association, and now I work out of my living room. I have the luxury and privilege of being able to do that. So I’ve just been hibernating, I guess…and trying not to get sick. What’s next for Diversify Outdoors and Melanin Basecamp? Our first short film premiered last year, about a Black Canadian climber, Sabrina Chapman, and her goal to climb her first 5.14a, which is a gateway for elite climbing. That was very exciting, and we are going to do more, thanks in part to the massive wave of funding that came out of last summer. Writing is great, it’s a lot of fun, but people really connect to video and to short film, so we’d like to continue to do more of that. We’re going to continue to put out content that’s relevant to our community. And we’re going to continue to grow, that’s part of the process. When we started in 2016, I wasn’t doing indigenous land acknowledgements and now I am. It’s a learning curve, where we’re all growing, we’re all trying to get better, to be more inclusive, to highlight people with multiple marginalized identities, even within our own community. We could all definitely do a better job of doing that. We look forward to growing with our community over the next couple of years. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?