Princes sharing a moment raises hopes Royal rift can be healed
Princes William and Harry sat apart during the funeral of their grandfather but were seen chatting after it in an apparent thawing of their fraught relationship.
The brothers put their differences aside to support the Queen as they attended the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Social distancing rules meant they were seated away from each other in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with the Duke of Cambridge sitting next to his wife Kate and opposite Harry.
But as mourners filed out into the sunshine after the moving service, William paused to fall into step with Kate and Harry, who appeared to smile at the Duchess of Cambridge from behind his face mask.
The three – once known for their close bond – then strolled away together, away from other members of the family.
Moments later William and his younger brother shared a moment of conversation as Kate spoke to their cousin Zara Tindall.
Their civility to each other will raise hopes
that the rift between them can be healed. It was the first time they had been seen in public together since the Duke of Sussex stepped down from royal duties.
The Duchess of Sussex, who is pregnant with their second child, did not travel as she had been advised not to fly.
But the card on the wreath left for the Duke of Edinburgh by the couple was handwritten by Meghan. She and Harry personally chose locally-sourced flowers for their tribute, including acanthus mollis, the national flower of Greece, to represent Philip’s heritage, and eryngium, known as sea holly, to represent the Royal Marines.
The wreath also featured campanula for gratitude and everlasting love, rosemary to signify remembrance, lavender for devotion, and roses in honour of June, being Philip’s birth month.
Harry was part of the procession of family members who walked to the chapel in procession behind the coffin.
He and William walked in solemn silence on either side of their cousin Peter Phillips, who at one point fell back slightly, allowing the two to be next to each other.
The backdrop to the acrimony between the two was disclosed in Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast last month, when they claimed the duchess had received no support from the monarchy in her mental health struggles.