Princes William and Harry have had a strained relationship in recent years, which would have ‘worried and concerned’ their mother

The late Princess Diana would have ‘tried her best’ to bring her feuding sons together, her former flame has claimed.

Princes William and Harry have had a strained relationship in recent years, which would have ‘worried and concerned’ their mother.

While the Duke of Sussex has been candid with about the icy dynamic he’s had with William since stepping back from royal duties, the future king has remained tight-lipped.

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While there had been little sign of the once inseparable pair being poised to reconcile any time soon, James Hewitt – their mother’s former lover – said he believed she would have tried to bring her sons back together, if she was still alive.

During a recent appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the 66-year-old was asked by host Richard Madeley what he thought the late Princess of Wales would have been able to encourage a reconciliation.

According to the Mirror, James replied: “I think any mother would be worried and concerned about such a rift, as you put it. And she’d do her best to try and get them together.”

James and Diana met a party in 1986, which had been thrown by the Princess’ lady-in-waiting Hazel West.

They got on “famously”, according to the Princess’ former bodyguard – Ken Wharfe – who said in his book Diana: Closely Guarded Secret, per Town and Country: “He told her he was a riding instructor and, when she confessed she was afraid of horses, offered to help her overcome her fear.”

The pair later began an affair and were romantically involved for several years before James’ military career took him abroad.

In 1994, there was a major scandal when James cooperated with author Anna Pasternak on a book about the affair.

A year later, Diana admitted the affair during her infamous sit-down with BBC’s Panorama.

She said she’d “adored him” and “was in love with him”, and had felt “very let down” by his co-operation with the tell-all book.

Rumours also swirled that James was Prince Harry father, not King Charles – something Harry addressed in his memoir Spare.

He wrote: “Never mind that my mother didn’t meet Major Hewitt until long after I was born, the story was simply too good to drop.”