There is still more that binds the ‘heir’ and ‘spare’ than divides them

As the Duke of Sussex was last night thought to be halfway across the Atlantic heading for a new life in North America, his brother the Duke of Cambridge was also flying high.

Hosting world leaders at Buckingham Palace for the first time on behalf of the Queen, the Duke’s reception to mark the Uk-africa summit showed just how far the Royal family dynamics have shifted over the past fortnight. While the Duke and the

Duchess of Cambridge were fronting up for The Firm, the Duke of Sussex was disappearing into the sunset in search of a “peaceful” new existence with his wife and their son Archie.

Yet even before last Monday’s so-called Sandringham summit that called time on the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ royal future, the once inseparable brothers were diverging.

As the Duke of Sussex himself put it in his interview with ITV news anchor Tom Bradby last October: “We are certainly on different paths at the moment.”

Admitting that “stuff happens” and “you have good days and bad days”, he said of his brother: “I love him dearly. We’ll always be brothers. I will always be there for him and he will always be there for me.” Bradby later confirmed: “There have been a lot of fallouts,” adding: “A lot of harsh things were said around the time of the wedding. And it’s gone a bit too far.

“And certainly the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghan’s point of view, they’re just being driven out, as they see it. And it’s sad.” Yet after what has undoubtedly been a difficult start to the decade for the Royal family, one consolation of the unfortunate furore is that it has finally brought the brothers back on to speaking terms.

As one royal insider put it: “They’re back chatting face to face and that’s made all the difference. It’s no secret that there had been problems between them for months but that was mainly down to neither of them fully addressing the issues. Now a resolution has been found that both sides seem happy with, hopefully everyone can move on.” Amid the acres of newsprint that have been written about the “royal rift” between the “heir” and the “spare” since the Sussexes dropped their bombshell on Jan 8, two significant moments hint at a royal rapprochement.

The first came in the aftermath of the shock announcement when friends close to the Duke of Cambridge said he had spoken of his “sadness” at the broken bond with the Duke of Sussex, and voiced sorrow that they were no longer a “team”.

Expressing hope that they might pull together again in the future, he is understood to have told a friend: “I’ve put my arm around my brother all our lives and I can’t do that any more; we’re separate entities. I’m sad about that. All we can do, and all I can do, is try to support them and hope that the time comes when we’re all singing from the same page. I want everyone to play on the team.”

Far from being “incandescent with rage” over his brother’s decision to step down, the Duke’s chief emotion has been “sadness”, according to royal sources. Shock and upset, yes, but not angry. And having also expressed his own “great sadness that it has come to this” during a speech on Sunday night, it seems there is still more that binds the “heir” and the “spare” than divides them.

Indeed, it is certainly telling that the Duke of Cambridge is understood to have been at the forefront of insisting the “Sussex situation” be reviewed in a year’s time. “He wants to make sure it’s working for them and working for the institution,” the source said. While suggestions that the rift was “overblown” may now smack of Palace PR spin, both sides genuinely appear to have accepted they made mistakes.

The Duke of Sussex overreacted badly when his brother urged caution in the early weeks of his romance with the Duchess, while neither the Duke or Duchess of Cambridge were as welcoming to the American actress as they could have been. The other significant moment that sowed the

‘They’re back chatting face to face and that’s made all the difference. It’s no secret there had been problems’

seeds of a potential reconciliation was when both dukes joined forces to condemn a story in The Times alleging that the Sussexes had felt “bullied” by the Duke of Cambridge. Describing the story as “false”, they said: “For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful.” As one insider confirmed: “It says a lot that they were both happy for it to be a joint statement.”

When they launched Heads Together with the Duchess of Cambridge in 2017, the royals said they wanted to start a “national conversation” about mental health. Yet ironically, when their own relationship faltered, they never properly talked it through.

Three years ago, the royal brothers sat at a picnic table discussing their “unique bond” and agreed that “if you can have a family environment where you can talk openly about your issues, that makes for a better family”.

While there is still more transatlantic talking to be done, the dukes finally got their heads together and started the conversation.