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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
David Clark

Prince Harry tells of secret code William used to communicate at royal funeral

A secret code Prince Harry and Prince William used to communicate has been revealed.

Harry spoke about the code during an interview following the publication of his memoir Spare and revealed that his brother “stopped him cold” when he used it at Prince Philip's funeral.

The pair's relationship had already disintegrated at that point, with the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle relocating to California after deciding to step down from royal duties.

In his book, Harry detailed how his sibling rivalry with the Prince of Wales developed into a full-blown fallout after William repeatedly warned him about Meghan, leading to a physical altercation in 2019.

With the Sussexes in the United States, Harry and William had barely seen each other when their grandfather Prince Philip died in 2021.

Harry says William 'stopped him cold' by using a special code between the pair (Getty Images)

The pair were photographed walking together at the funeral ceremony as they were finally reunited.

In an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby, Harry revealed that his brother had used the “special code" the pair have – but that it did not have the desired effect.

In Spare Harry details how William pulled him back so the two could have a private word, with his brother telling him he loved him and that he wanted him to be happy.

"Harold you must listen to me, I just want you to be happy, Harold, I swear, I swear on mummy’s life," Prince William reportedly said.

Harry explained that this was a phrase used only when they urgently needed to be heard by the other.

A rift has developed between the siblings in recent years (Getty Images)

"It stopped me cold, as it was meant to," Harry recalled to Bradby. "Not because he'd used it, but because it didn’t work. I simply didn’t believe him."

Earlier this week The Mirror exclusively reported that Meghan Markle took disagreements between her husband and his brother "seriously" from the start, according to an expert.

The pair had reportedly not spoken since Harry's book was released, with the brothers reunited momentarily at the King's Coronation earlier this month.

In an old video with the former "fab four" talking about the Royal Foundation at the Make a Difference Together forum in London in 2018, Meghan could be seen sat with the two brothers and William's wife Kate Middleton, with it now revealed that a royal rift was emerging.

Representing the Royal Foundation for the first time at the event, Meghan is said to have "sensed something serious" with her body language incredibly telling.

Reports in April suggested the brothers had not spoken since the publication of Harry's memoir (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Body language expert Judi James has spoken about how Meghan "might have seen any disagreements between the brothers as something serious", which might be why she appeared to cover her face during the public appearance.

Speaking about the video that shows the quartet sitting on stage at the event, Judi told Mirror US: "This telling footage has many comparisons to the footage of Charles and Diana’s engagement interview, with both showing powerful body language signs of future conflict and relationship splits.

"With Charles it was the terrible ‘Whatever in love means’ that threw an ice bucket over their marriage before the wedding had even taken place.

"With this launch of the ‘fab four’ it’s the moment when the two couples are asked about any disagreements and the spontaneous outbreak of embarrassed body language suggests there are already clashes and conflicts behind the calm smiles."

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