Are Prince William and Prince Harry friends again? Don’t count on it

The Prince and Princess of Wales with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wave at well-wishers on the Long walk outside Windsor Castle. Picture: AFP

Amid the royal family’s grief over the death of the Queen, has peace finally broken out between the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex? That would certainly be the optimistic interpretation of events on Saturday.

William invited Harry and Meghan to join him and Kate as they inspected the flowers laid outside Windsor Castle. To see the four of them together, seemingly at ease in each other’s company – if not exhibiting any great warmth – was a welcome contrast to some of their previous appearances. At one point William could be seen talking to Harry and pointing something out among the floral tributes.

The fact that the four of them then left in the same car together was at least cause for hope. One can only presume that the short journey to Frogmore Cottage did not pass in total silence.

Compare that with the time the two couples had to sit close together at the Commonwealth service in Westminster Abbey, just before Harry and Meghan left the country. On that occasion they could barely bring themselves to exchange a single word. Then this year, at the St Paul’s service for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the Sussexes and the Cambridges were discreetly placed in separate rows. They did not even look at each other.

Prince Harry with the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan, and Prince William with Princess Kate look at floral tributes laid by members of the public for the Queen. Picture: Getty Images

So did Saturday’s show of unity herald the start of healing the great rift that exists between the two families? At least one source close to the royal family is sceptical. Whatever the relationship between the two brothers, they believe that the wider differences between the two families are too fundamental to be repaired that easily.

Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers, a book about William and Harry, said it was the third time since the brothers fell out that they have been seen together. The other times were at the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh and the unveiling of the statue to their late mother.

Lacey said: “What is significant is the expression of unity they presented. Some people have called it a “show” of unity – I think that underrates it. They rose above themselves to pay homage to people who matter enormously to them. They put their divisions aside.”

That does not, however, mean that all their differences are resolved. After Prince Philip’s funeral, Lacey said, the brothers were scarcely inside before they were arguing again. “The points at issue that they are arguing about are very profound. It is about William’s concept about how the job of monarchy should be done, and for Harry it is about the respect with which his wife will be treated. Rightly or wrongly, both of them think that the other has committed faults in those areas.”

It is possible to interpret what happened as a wish on William’s part, and indeed on the part of Harry, who accepted his brother’s invitation, to attempt some sort of reconciliation. Their father, of course, made his own gesture on Friday evening when he spoke in his address to the nation of his love for Harry and Meghan.

Looming over all of this, though, is the shadow of Harry’s forthcoming memoir. It is still not clear when it will be published – there have been suggestions, as yet unconfirmed, that it might be delayed until next year – and it is even less clear what it will say.

Harry has already said some very damaging things about his family. He has intimated that the royal family is racist and criticised his father’s parenting skills. Will there be more to come in the book?

Until now, neither brother has shown any sign of being able to forgive the other.

According to one author, speaking when the Sussexes had just come over to carry out a series of engagements in Britain and Germany, William had no plans to see Harry until after he published his memoir. Angela Levin said that the Cambridges were avoiding contact with the Sussexes until they knew what they were going to say in their forthcoming Netflix documentary series and in Harry’s book. “They have lost their chance of being trusted, as the chance is they will record any conversation and use it against them,” Levin said.

That has, of course, now been superseded but there is still a long way to go before the two families can start to undo all the hurt that has been caused. But perhaps, just perhaps, reconciliation starts with small steps: a gesture here, a conversation there. Just spending a few minutes together without fighting can possibly make a difference.

It is the slimmest of slim hopes but better that than no hope at all.

– The Times