25 years ago, it was the image of these two brothers in pain and mourning for their mother that moved the whole world. A quarter of a century later, princes William and Harry walked side by side behind the coffin of their grandmother Elizabeth II on Monday during her funeral, without expressing any sign of reconciliation.
To the sound of bagpipes, they paraded behind their father, Charles III, their uncles Andrew and Edward and their aunt Anne, from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, then, after the religious ceremony, to Hyde Park in where the coffin left for Windsor Castle in a royal hearse.
William, to whom his father Charles III passed on the title of Prince of Wales, wore his military uniform, like his father Prince Edward and his aunt Princess Anne. Like them, he several times performed the military salute in the direction of his grandmother and sovereign, while his brother abstained.
Leaving the royal family with a bang in 2020, Harry, who lives in California with his wife Meghan and their two children, lost the right to wear his uniform and was dressed in a black frock coat, however decorated with his medals.
Tensions or protocol?
William’s wife Kate arrived at Westminster Abbey accompanied by her children Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, with Meghan at their side. But again without exchanging a look or gesture that could suggest a rapprochement between the “fantastic four”, as the British press had nicknamed them before their estrangement consumed after the departure of Harry and Meghan in California.
Before the death of Elizabeth II, the two couples had not been seen together in public for more than two years, with the exception of the religious ceremony for her 70 years of reign last June. They hadn’t exchanged a look. Last week, the quartet created a surprise by going to admire the flowers placed in front of Windsor Castle in tribute to the queen. They had then left in the same car, but the faces were closed, the minimal interactions. William and Harry also attended a wake for Elizabeth II’s eight grandchildren on Saturday.
Prince Harry, who also bears the title of Duke of Sussex, is preparing the release of his memoirs which could once again strain relations between the two couples, after a shock interview by American star presenter Oprah Winfrey last year, where Harry and Meghan had accused an unidentified member of the royal family of racism towards them.