The future British king and his estranged brother, the California-based Duke of Sussex, are set to go head-to-head in dual TV documentaries.

One will screen on Britain’s public free-to-air broadcaster, ITV, and is a documentary about homelessness, a behind-the-scenes journey following the prince in his long-time quest to end rough sleeping, couch surfing and other forms of temporary accommodation in the UK.

The other is also an ITV documentary, Tabloids on Trial, which includes a sit-down interview about phone hacking.

Which brother will you watch?

Prince William, 42, will feature in the two-part series about homelessness. The cause has been close to his heart from a young age, when he visited shelters with his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

With a working title Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, it will show William – royal patron of The Passage charity – behind the scenes in the first year of his Homewards project.

Meanwhile, ITV News royal editor Chris Ship announced on social media that Prince Harry, 39, who quit the royal family in 2020 and moved to the US with wife, Meghan Markle, 42, has been interviewed for a documentary about the infamous phone-hacking scandal.

In a sit-down with ITV health correspondent Rebecca Barry, Harry will talk about “why he is fighting to expose what he says are the illegal activities of Britain’s tabloid newspapers”.

Hugh Grant, Charlotte Church and Paul Gascoigne also contribute to the documentary, but all eyes will be on Harry.

“You cannot make this up,” wrote one regular royal watcher on X.

“Actions will always speak the truth that words try to conceal …
Prince William is a natural leader; thus he works hard behind the scene to make things happen for others.

“He was born to lead and acts like it.

“Prince Harry is about self service and using others to make himself shine in the spotlight. He was born to whine and acts like it,” she spelled out to her 88,000 followers.

William on a 2020 visit to a centre that supports the homeless, excluded and marginalised. Photo: AAP

William and Harry’s royal rift

The rift began in the winter of 2018, a few months after Harry and Meghan wed at Christmas time.

Harry told William he felt the royal family wasn’t rolling out the red carpet enough for Megan, according to Vanity Fair‘s royal reporter, Katie Nicholl.

Soon after, the Sussexes moved out of Kensington Palace and into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

Then there was a royal doco speculating Meghan and William’s wife Kate were at war, as well as endless tabloid stories about Meghan.

In mid-2019, the foursome split their shared charity. By the end of the year, Harry had blindsided William – and the wider royal family – when he revealed he and Meghan were quitting royal duties for life abroad.

Robert Lacey’s book Battle of Brothers came out, giving more insight into William and Harry’s feud.

Then Harry and Meghan revealed in 2020 they had signed a $180 million deal with Netflix. Their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired in March 2021 and in which they accused the royal family of being racist, followed by an eight-part Netflix special in 2022 and Harry’s memoir Spare were enough to make the rift permanent.

One particular anecdote from Spare was that William had physically attacked Harry during a fight about Meghan.

Two very different docos

Harry, and more than 40 others, are suing News Group Newspapers over historic accusations of unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators for The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World.

A trial focusing on some of those claims, possibly including Harry’s, is set down for the High Court in London in January next year.

In December last year, the prince was awarded significant damages after the court ruled he had been the victim of phone-hacking and other unlawful acts by journalists on British newspapers.

Harry became the first senior British royal for 130 years to give evidence in court when he appeared as the star witness at a trial in June against Mirror Group Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, who he said had targeted him for 15 years.

The judge awarded him £140,600 ($267,400) and found that the papers’ editors and executives knew about the wrongdoing.

Harry called for the authorities and the police to act against those identified as having broken the law.

“Today is a great day for truth as well as accountability,” he said in a statement read by his lawyer David Sherborne.

Meanwhile, William’s doco has all the hallmarks of being far less sensationalist.

“With access to the inner workings of this ambitious project and the work of Prince William and his team, we hope to share with viewers a privileged insight into how they are setting out to tackle an issue which concerns us all and affects so many of our fellow citizens across the UK,” says Jo Clinton-Davis, controller of factual at ITV.

Tabloids on Trial premieres on Britain’s ITV1 on July 25

Prince William: We Can End Homelessness premieres later this year