LONDON (AP) – A year after seeing each other for the last time, Prince William and his brother Prince Harry put aside their strained relationship as they said goodbye to their grandfather on Saturday at his funeral.
The brothers were silent and silent as they walked together in a procession behind Prince Philip’s coffin before his funeral at Windsor Castle along with his father, Prince Charles and other close relatives. They were seen chatting and walking together after the service ended.
It was the first time the brothers had been together in public since Harry retired from royal duties and moved to the United States with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and his son Archie in early 2020.
Tensions between Harry, 36, and William, 38, surfaced after Harry and Meghan offered a revealing interview on American talk show Oprah Winfrey last month. The couple portrayed the royal family as indifferent to Meghan’s mental health struggles and Harry described her relationship with William as “space right now”.
On Saturday, William and Harry walked silently on either side of their cousin, Peter Phillips, while joining other members of the royal family in Philip’s funeral procession. At one point, Phillips stepped back slightly to allow the siblings to walk side by side: a visual echo of when the couple, as children, in 1997, walked behind their mother’s coffin. , Princess Diana, at another royal funeral televised around the world.
The brothers sat facing St. George’s Chapel for the funeral, which was attended by only 30 people due to coronavirus restrictions. While William was sitting next to his wife Kate, Harry was alone because Meghan is pregnant with her second child and her doctor advised her not to make the long journey.
Then Harry, William and Kate walked together out of the chapel. Moments later, the brothers walked together alone while Kate talked to Zara Tindall, another of Queen Elizabeth II’s eight grandchildren who is a cousin of William and Harry.
Rumors of a breakup between the brothers – William, the heir and Harry, the “spare” – have erupted at least since 2019. That’s when Harry and Meghan separated from the Royal Foundation, originally created as the company. joint solidarity of the brothers, to set up their own platform. That year, Harry said he loved his brother very much, but that they were “on different paths” and that they had “good days” and “bad days.”
Many believe William was angry and hurt Harry’s decision to speak so publicly about the royal family’s problems during Winfrey’s interview. In an explosive complaint, they said a family member, neither the Queen nor Philip, had expressed “concerns” about the possible color of Archie’s skin before she was born. Meghan has a black mother and a white father.
Days after the broadcast of the interview, William insisted that “we are not a racist family” and said he had not spoken to Harry since the broadcast.
It is unclear whether his grandfather’s passage will help the brothers heal his fracture. It was not immediately known how long Harry will remain in his country, who has self-isolated himself according to UK coronavirus restrictions since he arrived from California earlier this week.
Saturday’s funeral was limited to just 30 people, who had to wear masks, sit in family bubbles and remain socially estranged from the same church that had hosted hundreds of people for Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding in 2018. And the restrictions of Britain’s coronavirus may be limited what opportunity the brothers will have to smooth out their differences.
“Due to COVID restrictions, it is difficult to achieve decent conservation,” said royal biographer Penny Junor. “It’s probably pretty hard to sit down like you used to have a beer and discuss things.”
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