As the Prince of Wales laughed and cried while Aston Villa secured its first major trophy in 30 years last night, he was joined by his equally enthusiastic ‘band of brothers’ – some of whom he has known since childhood.
It included old pal Ben ‘Dawesey’ Dawes, Thomas van Straubenzee, 43, and Edward van Cutsem, 53, one of the sons of banker Hugh and his wife Emilie van Cutsem – who the future King grew up with.
But the scenes, which saw William, 43, emotionally fling his arms around the group of men who had watched the royal’s favourite team defeat SC Freiburg during the UEFA Europa League Final in Istanbul, are likely to have stirred some sore emotions for the Duke of Sussex.
Rather than singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ and partying it up with football players alongside William and his squad, Harry is miles away in Montecito after leaving royal duties behind in 2020.
William van Cutsem, 47 – Edward’s brother – and Thomas were boyhood friends with William and Harry and their families have remained closely entwined since, from high society events to charity partnerships, to godparent duties and being ushers at each others’ weddings.
But after Harry made his move to California six years ago, and laid bare his grievances with the family in a tell-all memoir, Spare; his connections with old friends have suffered alongside the well-documented rift with his family.
Thomas is known as William’s best friend and in the wake of Megxit, sources said the future King was leaning on his old pal for support while Harry turned to another van Straubenzee brother, Charlie.
As the Prince of Wales laughed and cried while Aston Villa secured its first major trophy in 30 years last night, he was joined by his equally enthusiastic ‘band of brothers’ – some of whom he has known since childhood
The Prince of Wales (1) goes wild with Ben ‘Dawesey’ Dawes (2) to his right looking at him. Jake van Cutsem (3) punches the air to William’s left and has an arm around his father Edward van Cutsem (4), one of William’s oldest friends. Edward has his arm around Thomas van Straubenzee (5), another of the Prince’s oldest friends
Meanwhile, Harry himself confirmed in his memoir Spare that he’d experienced a rift with some members of the van Cutsem family who didn’t approve of his tell-all Oprah interview.
‘Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of Hugh and Emilie’s sons, Emilie herself, and even Tiggy, had chastised me for Oprah,’ the Duke had penned. ‘How could you reveal such things? About your family?’
The rift appears to have started in 2020, when one of the van Cutsem brothers Hugh Ralph’s wife Rose Astor – who he married in 2005 – offended Harry and Meghan by seemingly mocking their announcement that they intend to ‘step back’ as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020.
‘I am standing back as a senior member of my tax return,’ Rose wrote on social media, ‘because I’d rather drink coffee, see my friends, love my family and do yoga.’
She later declined to discuss her comments, explaining: ‘I’m so sorry, I can’t say anything. I’m sure you understand. I’m going to be in so much trouble.’
Hugh, 52, is particularly close to Prince William, with the royal being a senior usher at Hugh and Rose’s wedding in 2005.
Elsewhere, the van Straubenzees have often been described as being like a second family to William and Harry, and Claire and Alex – the boys’ parents – provided a retreat for the royal brothers during the ‘war of the Waleses’ (Charles and Diana’s very public, and painful divorce).
Harry was particularly close to Thomas’s late brother Henry who became the royal’s best friend after they met at their prep school, Ludgrove Prep in Berkshire.
Thomas is known as William’s best friend and in the wake of Megxit, sources said the future King was leaning on his old pal for support while Harry turned to another Van Straubenzee brother, Charlie. Harry and Charlie pictured in 2015
William and Thomas van Straubenzee pictured at Coworth Park Polo Club in 2014 in Ascot
Harry and William at a reception to mark the launch of the Henry Van Straubenzee Memorial Fund in 2008
Harry and William with Hugh van Cutsem at his brother Edward’s wedding in 2004
‘Skinny, with no muscles, and hair that stood up in permanent surrender, Henners was all heart,’ he wrote affectionately of ‘Henners’. ‘Whenever he smiled, people melted.’
The Duke said in his book that Henry was the only boy who asked him about his mother Princess Diana after she died in 1997. Tragically, he himself passed away in a car crash at the age of 18.
In Spare, Harry described how the news of Henry’s death had terrible echoes of the moment that his father, then Prince Charles, told him that his mother had died. He noted how, ‘just like Mummy’, Henry was not wearing a seatbelt.
In December 2022, despite being estranged, the princes signed a joint letter to mark the 20th anniversary of Henry’s death.
Thomas’s brother Charlie appears to still be close to Harry, and both himself and Thomas were ushers at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in 2018, where Charlie gave a speech at the reception.
Harry also is godfather to Charlie’s four-year-old daughter Clover and, in turn, Charlie is godfather to Prince Archie, five. The pair were also seen cycling around the Californian neighbourhood in May 2022.
However Thomas – often described as the Prince of Wales’s best friend – is likely to have divided loyalties over the princes’ rift.
He and the Duke were close to one another in the 2010s, and when Thomas was mugged in Stockwell, south London in 2012 – it was Harry he was on the phone to when his Nokia phone was snatched.
In 2015, he accompanied Harry and his brother Charlie to a rugby match.
However, there seem to be no public joint appearances of the duo since – while Thomas has been seen by William’s side aplenty.
Harry’s changed dynamic with the van Cutsems and van Straubenzees isn’t the only friendship change he’s experienced in recent times, including his bond with Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster.
The Duke, one of the UK’s biggest landowners, is a close friend of both Harry and William, and godfather to Prince George and also to Prince Archie.
But Harry’s transatlantic dash has seen him miss multiple friendship milestones, ranging from a low-key football match to his perhaps more painful absence from Hugh’s 2024 wedding to Olivia Henson.
The billionaire aristocrat was reportedly keen to invite the Sussexes but mutually agreed with Harry that it would be better if they didn’t attend so the occasion wouldn’t be overshadowed by royal tensions.
It’s a far cry from Hugh’s once-close relationship with the Montecito-based father-of-two, who was reportedly earmarked as Hugh’s best man at one point prior to his exclusion from the society wedding.
