Prince William offered Prince Harry a subtle gesture at the Queen's funeral that suggests the brothers are trying to mend their fractured relationship, a body language expert claims. Pictures taken before the service yesterday show several royals preparing to take part in the procession behind the late monarch's coffin in Windsor Castle.
In the photos, King Charles, Princess Anne, Peter Phillips, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, William and Harry can be seen awaiting the arrival of the funeral cortege. Harry stands away from part of the group, who appear to be conversing with the King, while Earl of Snowdon, Sir Timothy Laurence and the Duke of Gloucester chat in amongst themselves.
Body language expert Judi James says it's clear that the Duke of Sussex is "physically excluded" from the group - however, there is a sign that William and Harry are trying to resolve their long-running feud. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: "Harry looks physically excluded or sidelined in this grouping with some royals gathering around Charles while the others stand with the Earl of Snowdon, almost with their backs turned to Harry.
"The one moment we have not seen during this visit, despite Charles’s warm words during his speech, is any form of physical meeting between Harry and his father Charles. All the attention has been on Harry and William but they have performed a couple of forced-looking chatting rituals in the past, and in the Oprah interview it seemed to be his father that received all the really negative body language responses from Harry, rather than William.
"William does seem to have hung back slightly here, which could hopefully be prompted by empathy and the brothers might just be looking in each others’ direction and even speaking, even if their body language is not mirrored as usual. Hopefully these images outside do signal a breakthrough in terms of the sibling relationship and once the funeral is over and there is no risk of dragging sibling soap operas into the spotlight there might be one last sign of some sort of a reunion."
There has been much made of the rift between the two brothers with their frosty relationship reportedly sparked by William's concerns over Harry's fast-developing relationship with Meghan Markle ahead of their royal wedding in 2018. The tense row quickly boiled over - with Harry claiming his brother was "trapped" within the royal system during a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey after quitting as a senior royal.
But although Harry has stepped back from royal duties, he took his place alongside his brother for the ceremonies of the Queen’s state funeral today. William, in his RAF No1 uniform, and Harry, in formal funeral wear and medals, marched slowly behind their father, the King, as the Queen’s coffin was taken from Westminster Hall, at the heart of the Palace of Westminster, where she had been lying in state.
After the funeral ended with a rendition of the national anthem, the brothers joined the huge procession escorting the Queen on the beginning of her final journey, marching once again with sombre expressions behind the gun carriage as their wives followed behind in slowly-driven cars. William saluted the Cenotaph, while Harry bowed his head as they passed the memorial to Britain’s war dead.
Later, on arrival in Windsor, William and Harry walked next to each other as they followed the coffin into St George’s Chapel. No words were exchanged in front of the TV cameras.
Once inside the chapel, William and Kate stood aside so that Harry and Meghan could enter a front pew. Princess Charlotte then sat next to her uncle Harry on one side and her mother on the other. Next to Kate was Prince George, followed by his father William.
Keen observers noticed that Harry and Princess Charlotte shared a moment during the service at St George’s Chapel. Princess Charlotte was seen adjusting her hat before looking over at her uncle.
Harry then briefly looked up and caught her eye and smiled at the princess.
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