Princes William and Harry take ‘baby steps’ with Charles towards reconciliation

Charles holds a brief summit with William and Harry following Philip’s funeral as the family extend an olive branch in the fallout from the Oprah interview.

The Prince of Wales has gone to his cottage in Wales after holding a brief summit with his two sons immediately after Prince Philip’s funeral, it was reported on Monday night.

Prince Charles is said to have talked with the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex together within the grounds of Windsor Castle, where it is understood that they started the “baby steps” towards a reconciliation following Harry and Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview.

A senior royal insider told the Daily Mail: “Obviously after the worldwide fallout of the Oprah interview, trust has to be rebuilt. There was no official wake after the funeral, but Charles, William and Harry took the opportunity to speak and catch up face-to-face after many months apart.

“They were only able to spend a short time together outdoors given Covid restrictions, and also without staff, including senior courtiers, overhearing what was being said.

“It was important to Charles and William that they were both there together. It means nothing spoken about can be misconstrued in the future.”

Prince Charles. Picture: Getty Images

The Queen is likely to undertake a number of low-key engagements from Windsor Castle before she attends the state opening of parliament next month, palace sources have said. The Queen, who will be 95 tomorrow (Wednesday), will resume normal working on Friday after the end of two weeks of royal mourning.

Her birthday, the first after the death of her husband of 73 years, will be a restrained affair. However, she is unlikely to be alone. It is probable that she will receive visits from members of her family, including the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. She is also likely to get phone calls from the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Cambridge and others.

It remains unclear whether the Duke of Sussex will still be in the country by the time of his grandmother’s birthday.

Official birthday celebrations have been toned down, with the traditional 41-gun and 21-gun salutes in Hyde Park and the Tower of London both cancelled, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Last year the Queen spent her 94th birthday with Philip but stayed away from other members of the family as they followed social distancing rules amid the pandemic. The bells of Westminster Abbey – the church where she was both married and crowned – stayed silent on her last birthday for the first time in more than a decade.

The Queen’s first duty when she gets back to work will be dealing with red boxes of government papers. Aides are already looking at a number of possible engagements from Windsor in the days after that, most probably by video call or telephone.

Her first public engagement will be the state opening of parliament on May 11, when she will make the traditional speech on behalf of the government with Charles at her side, as has become the custom in recent years.

The Queen’s official birthday is celebrated in June and is usually marked by the Trooping the Colour parade, although that will not go ahead in its traditional form for a second year due to the pandemic. Buckingham Palace said options for a parade at Windsor Castle are being considered.

The Duchess of Cornwall has dedicated the new season of her Reading Room book club to Prince Philip “in memory of a great fellow reader”, while the piper who played the lament at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral said that it was “the greatest honour” of his military career.

Pipe Major Colour Sergeant Peter Grant played Flowers of the Forest after the duke’s coffin was lowered into the royal vault in Windsor. The song is the funeral tune of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and is usually heard on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.

Grant, who is the 4th Battalion’s pipe major, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland program: “The armed forces did themselves proud.”

The Times