It’s a simple picture, but it says it all.
Grieving Prince Harry, once one of the most popular royals, heading home from Balmoral, alone. He has no brother to lean on, no father to share a hug with, and no wife at his side.
Indeed, as he boards the 9.45am BA flight in his black suit, his only words of comfort come from an airport worker in a hi-vis jacket, one of the ordinary members of the British public he was once so ready to leave behind.
Even then it’s just a briefest of exchanges as he places his hand on her shoulder today.
The scene echoed his desperate solitary dash to his gran’s bedside the day before.
“Despite everything that’s happened over the past few years, Harry was incredibly fond of his grandmother,” says a source.
“It would have been all the harder for him that he was making those sad, fateful journeys alone, with only his memories of his gran to keep him company.”
As news of the Queen’s worsening condition reached senior royals on Thursday afternoon, Princes William, Andrew and Edward and the Countess of Wessex left Windsor for RAF Northolt, West London, where they took a plane to Aberdeen before a drive to Balmoral.
However, Harry, who was staying at Windsor’s Frogmore Cottage, metres from William and Kate’s residence, took a separate jet, having first tried to travel by helicopter and take the Duchess of Sussex with him.
Both parties sadly arrived too late to say their final goodbyes. While William was seen driving into Balmoral on Thursday at 5.05pm, Harry arrived at 8.30pm after his beloved gran’s death was announced at 6.31pm.
Just hours later he was back at Aberdeen International Airport for the 9.45am flight to Heathrow, having been first to leave Balmoral at 8.15am. He landed at 11.32am while William left Balmoral after 1pm. King Charles and Camilla took a separate jet so they could head straight to Buckingham Palace.
“Harry would have been distraught that he did not make it there in time to say goodbye,” says the source close to Harry, 37.
“And it would have been a hard journey home for him. He’ll be thinking about all the time he’s lost with his gran while in the US. They still talked a lot, even after everything.
“But no one is under any illusion that it would not have been a very difficult and charged atmosphere at Balmoral.”
So how did the Queen’s charming grandson find himself a Marmite figure and almost pariah mourning her passing all alone?
Some critics will insist he brought it on himself; US reports have been quick to claim Meghan feared a frosty welcome at Balmoral. If so, it would be little surprise after the allegations the pair levelled at the Royal Family in the infamous Oprah Winfrey interview just days before Prince Phillip’s death.
Not to mention Meghan’s recent magazine interviews and podcasts, where it was mentioned he’d “lost” his father. But according to a royal source, there’s also tension over Harry’s upcoming tell-all book, which may have influenced events of the past few days.
“There has been a backdrop of intense nervousness over his memoir from senior royals,” said the source. “They are wary that anything they do could end up in the future book.
“That journey to Balmoral, knowing the end was nigh for the Queen, would have been heartbreaking and difficult enough, without any additional worries.”
Harry is staying in the UK until the Queen’s funeral, expected to be on Monday, September 19. It’s yet to be announced if Meghan, 41, will fly home as they have already been away from their children Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, since arriving in the UK for charity events on September 3.
In the meantime, Harry and Meghan will be all too aware the family rift is a long way from healed.
Some families unite in times of grief. That was the case when a heartbroken Harry made another life-changing trip home from Balmoral - in August 1997.
He was just 12 when he told his mum Diana had been killed. Then, he was surrounded by his brother, father and grandmother, and brought back to London where he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with William in the funeral procession.
Sadly, however, grief can also tear families apart. And, 25 years after Diana, this time that may be the case. For even in a time of mourning, the royals know their every decision and action sends a very public message.
The sight of the once cheeky chappy, party boy prince, standing distraught and alone on the tarmac, is a tragedy in itself – regardless of how it came to be.
