Footage shows Harry ‘desperate to avoid’ brother William

For months, Meghan and Kate’s alleged rift has made headlines — but this footage suggests the Duchesses are not the ones fighting after all.

Despite being so close they were almost touching, the brothers did not acknowledge each other. Picture: Supplied

It is rare — if not unheard of — for footage of a family trudging along to a church service being fascinating.

Sure, the clan in question is the Windsors and their every move is obsessively chronicled for posterity and so fashion bloggers can peddle knock-off versions of their designer clothes, but keep in mind that rolling up for a quick sermon and a singalong is a core KPI for a royal.

And thus it was over the weekend when the extended tribe descended on Windsor for an Easter service (which happened fall on the Queen’s 93rd birthday — there are no details about just how big her jam sponge had to be to accommodate that many candles).

Footage and images from outside the service reveal two key things. One, Princess Beatrice has really upped her hat game since the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding. Secondly, the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry could be even worse than we imagined.

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In photos and footage of the outing, the younger generation of the royals, Beatrice, Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn and Mike and Zara Tindall, along with the Wales boys can be seen wandering along, merrily chatting and looking like they are genuinely happy to be going to church and not having a sleep in on a weekend.

Harry chose to walk to church with his cousin Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn. Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

While William and Kate followed several paces behind. Picture: Ian Vogler — WPA Pool/Getty Images

However, look closer and you will spy something that really sucks. There were two people who didn’t exchange a word, or even a warm glance, during the whole jaunt — Harry and Wills.

The defining, sad moment was when the clan lined up to wait for Her Maj to arrive outside the church and Harry and Wills were only separated by metres.

When the Duke of Sussex leaned over to say something to Mike Tindall and Kate, who both then grinned broadly (a knock knock joke? A naughty limerick? Some rhyming slang about Wills’ dad dancing?) Wills remained silent.

In fact, the brothers did not speak once in public, People reports.

All of which only serves to reinforce every report and claim that the two brothers have had a whopper of a falling out.

Despite being so close they were almost touching, the brothers did not acknowledge each other. Picture: Supplied

Rumours that the two men and their wives were feuding have dominated headlines for months on end, with allegations that Meghan had made Kate cry while Wills had warned Harry not to wed Meghan. DRAMA.

Such is the reported enmity between the two couples they have split up their courts (insert a theatrical gasp here) and the Sussexes have decided they would prefer to live in Windsor, which is directly under the Heathrow flight path, than next door to the Cambridges. All very allegedly of course.

As William walked past, Harry turned his head away, seemingly to avoid eye contact. Picture: Supplied

But there is no getting away from this picture, which does nothing to dissuade us, the royally obsessed public, that the two lads are no longer sharing either their Amazon login or their lives. Even The Sun’s body language expert Judi James knew something was up, declaring “the fun between William and Harry has vanished”.

“Harry, Kate and William had always been so well bonded but suddenly it was Harry looking serious and using body language cues to hint at some heightened levels of anxiety when he was with them,” Ms James said. “He was desperate to avoid William.”

The royal family plans every outing and event with the sort of precision that would warm the cockles of a North Korean general’s heart. If the boys wanted to quash any notion that things were frosty between them, a bit of jolly joking around for the cameras and perhaps a big grin would have gone a long way.

Remember when Meghan and Kate kissed each other hello at (another!) church service last month, thus kinda, sorta, putting a dampener on the flood of reports claiming they were at odds? This would have been the perfect opportunity to do just that, instead they both plodded into the service looking like they had only just learned that this was the final series of Game of Thrones.

The royals chose to use last year’s Christmas service as an opportunity to kill off rumours of a Meghan/Kate feud. Picture: Stephen Pond/Getty Images

Meghan didn’t attend the service what with being about to give birth any second now. (What, you’re not sleeping with your phone so you don’t miss the news?) With a new tiny, adorable Windsor to add to Lizzie’s Christmas card list, it would be nice to think all that love and hope might help to improve Will and Harry’s relationship and thaw the ice between them.

And if not for them, then for Baby Sussex. Otherwise, how will he ever get to play Duck, Duck, Goose with George, Charlotte and a bevy of dragooned footmen when they go to Gan Gan’s house?

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and freelance writer. Continue the conversation @DanielaElser