They were just 750 metres apart, but it might as well have been the thousands of miles of the Atlantic which normally separates them.
For, even a tragedy such as this, was not going to bridge the gulf between the Duchesses.
As the events of Thursday unfolded, Meghan and Kate never met, despite being within a two-minute walk of each other on the Crown estate at Windsor.
“It was a difficult situation,’ said a senior royal source.
“It was always going to be a very hard night and all they could do is be there to support their husbands, if and when they called. That was the priority.”
Meghan and Harry, who had left their children Archie and Lilibet in the US, had been due at the WellChild Awards in London on Thursday night, where the prince was due to talk.
It was one of several charity events that led them to return to the UK on September 3.
But after hearing of the Queen’s declining health, Harry, 37, cancelled to go to Scotland. Meghan is thought to have spent the day and evening alone in Frogmore Cottage, while Kate was with her children at nearby Adelaide Cottage.
Kate had collected Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, at 2.30pm that afternoon after their first day at their new £50,000-a-year Lambrook School in Berkshire.
“It would have been a personal choice if they wanted to spend the evening together,” says the source. “But they have a lot to talk about and Thursday was not the time or place for it.”
Kate is now the new Princess of Wales - a “promotion” which comes with the huge pressure of living up to Diana’s legacy.
This announcement was central to King Charles’ speech tonight. And in the same breath he ensured the other Duchess was not forgotten: “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas.”
Thursday night’s lack of communication shows the relationship between the two couples really has frozen cold.
But by talking of his sons and their wives almost together, maybe our new King hasn’t given up hope this can be thawed.
