William and Harry take first steps towards reconciliation after Prince Philip’s funeral

Kept apart during the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral service, afterwards the pair spoke ahead of a family gathering.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Peter Phillips walk behind Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh's coffin, carried by a Land Rover hearse. Picture: Getty Images

Prince William and Prince Harry have taken the first steps towards reconciliation, just moments after attending the moving and sad farewell to their grandfather Prince Philip, 99 at Windsor.

Prince Harry spoke with Kate the Duchess of Cambridge as he began the walk up Tower Hill from St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle towards the state rooms of the Castle where the family was to gather after the funeral.

As Prince William moved up towards the other side of Harry, Kate hung back so that the two men could speak to each other. William appeared to turn to Harry and made a comment, possibly about having to wear masks, as he whipped his off and put it in his pocket. Harry then appeared to gesticulate to William.

Throughout the 50-minute funeral service, 38 year old William and his younger brother Harry were kept apart, initially walking in the procession behind Philip’s hearse separated by their cousin Peter Phillips.

The funeral procession, led by Prince Charles. Picture: Getty Images

They entered the chapel apart and sat on opposite sides of the chapel. William appeared stony-faced. Harry was shifting his shoulders and looked uncomfortable. At one point he had his head buried in his hands.

The brother’s have had a torrid estrangement, initially because William warned Harry not to rush into an engagement with Meghan Markle. But the distancing that occurred when Harry left the Royal Family last year, and was then stripped of his military titles, was even further exacerbated when Harry, 36, appeared with Meghan on the Oprah Winfrey show making allegations of racism against the Royal Family and saying that William, the second in line to the throne, was “trapped’’. Meghan also raised issues about how she was treated differently to Kate.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, arrives for the service. Picture: Getty

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, James, Viscount Severn and Sophie, Countess of Wessex inside St George's Chapel. Picture: Getty

Up until Saturday’s funeral, William and Harry had not been able to see each other as William had been at Anmer Hall in Norfolk and Harry was staying with his cousin Princess Eugenie and her young family at his old house, Frogmore Cottage.

For Harry the funeral would have been a sad reminder of the family and the life he has given up, as the last time he was at the same Windsor chapel was for a very different occasion: his own 2018 wedding to Ms Markle that was joyfully celebrated with huge crowds lining the town.

William and Harry spoke after the service. Picture: Getty Images

The brothers were heavily protected by Prince Philip while he was alive.

But this time his wife, pregnant with a girl due in the northern hemisphere summer, was at their California mansion with their toddler, Archie.

The short funeral procession down the hill behind Philip’s hand-designed LandRover hearse would have also rekindled dark memories for both men of the solemn walk they did as teenagers behind their mother’s coffin in 1997.

Back then William, 15 and Harry, 13, were heavily protected by Philip, who initially rejected courtier suggestions that the boys should be part of the procession behind Diana, the Princess of Wales’ coffin.

Philip then told them that he would walk if they did too.