REUNITED for Granny
The fall-out between William and Harry has been well documented but can the love for their late grandmother pull them together? By royal expert Duncan Larcombe
In life, Her Majesty the Queen brought people together. From families crowding around the television at Christmas to world leaders gathering at the table of truce – hers was a legacy of putting differences to one side.
During her reign, it seemed she was prepared to extend the hand of a nation’s friendship to anyone in the name of the greater good. Even when this meant clasping the palm of a former senior member of the IRA, the organisation that murdered her cousin, Lord Mountbatten, Elizabeth II was prepared to live in the present and leave the past in the past.
In the final few months of her reign, there was, sadly, one peace the Queen could not negotiate, no matter how hard she tried. The rift between her grandsons William and Harry continued to rage as Her Majesty’s life drew abruptly to a close.
The death of Prince Philip, the memory of their mother and a historic Platinum Jubilee all seemed to have failed to mend the bitterness of division on both sides of the row.
But as the flags flew at half-mast and the world heard the news that an era was at its end, the unthinkable seemed to happen. Amid the mourners laying flowers and silently paying tribute outside Her Majesty’s favourite home appeared the sight of four familiar-looking people walking side by side.
Two days after the Queen’s death, the new Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex walked out of Windsor Castle as a team once more. There was only one thing going through the minds of the well-wishers who witnessed this once unthinkable show of unity – had the warring princes finally reunited for Granny?
It soon emerged that this unscripted and impromptu ‘walkabout’ was William’s idea and came out of the blue. In fact, not only did the move come from the Prince of Wales, but my source has also revealed exactly how that came about. I’m told that Prince William reached out after watching his brother’s heartbreaking journey back from Balmoral to London alone on the BBC news.
William’s ‘eyes welled up’ when he realised the scale of his younger brother’s grief and ‘felt awful’ watching the images of Harry heading back to London.
By the time both brothers and their wives were back at Windsor, Prince William’s mind was made up, and he was determined to do something for his brother. The rest – as
‘The walkabout was William’s idea’
they say – is history, but is this really the end of the rift?
What about Harry’s memoir and the book that will soon hit the shelves? That’s why my source insists that their reunion was ‘more hand shakes and nods rather than hugs and kisses’.
But as the Sussexes head home to America, the ball is now firmly in their court.
King Charles may have extended the olive branch by using his first speech to speak of his ‘love’ for Harry and Meghan, but there is still a long way to go. The pain of the past few years will take a long time to heal, but Charles and William have opened the door to a mending of relations as the coming months approach.
It is really down to Harry and Meghan to decide whether they can put their differences aside and make a positive effort to heal the rift.
The coming months will not be easy, and the task of forgetting all that has been said and done, difficult. But perhaps the brothers will not have to look too far to find inspiration for the difficult road that lies ahead.
As their grandmother famously said in her Christmas speech in 2019: ‘It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.’