More than six years since Prince Harry stepped down from his royal duties, the Duke of Sussex’s relationship with his estranged brother is still tainted with heartbreak.
‘William is back at the point where if you mention Prince Harry in his presence he would throw you out of the room,’ one well-placed insider previously told the Daily Mail. ‘He’s doubling down.’
Yet with Harry’s upcoming 42nd birthday marking his first on British soil since his return from the US, speculation has begun to mount on whether a tide could soon turn in the royal brothers’ broken relationship.
According to body language expert Judi James, the ‘body language cues and subliminal rituals between Harry and his brother often shows signs of a synchronicity of spirit’.
‘These two men have shared unique moments and experiences and forged the strongest of bonds as they have done so. It’s possible that no one will ever understand them as well as they do each other,’ she told the Daily Mail.
Ms James notes that while Harry’s exit from the Royal Family has been of great detriment to the pair’s relationship, the late Queen’s death in 2022 was a rare moment where the two brothers came together.
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As Harry, William, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton observed the sea of flowers laid outside of Windsor Castle following the monarch’s death, video footage captured Harry’s unwavering ‘sense of respect’ for his grieving brother.
‘The sense of respect seemed to be in Harry’s DNA here, despite all his digs against the brother he grew up with,’ said Ms James. ‘Harry rose to the occasion here by very elegantly allowing William and his wife the right of way.’
‘Harry’s ego was fatally stung by the “Spare” tag but when he and William have been seen together in public he seems, despite all the bitterness, to quickly and naturally revert to his role as William’s “wing man”,’ she added.
‘It’s as though the royal clockwork is still whirring away as well-oiled as ever, with all its protocols and ingrained sense of teamwork.’
When the ‘Fabulous Four’ emerged from the gates of Windsor Castle, Harry was seen ‘gently’ slowing down his and Meghan’s walking pace to allow William and Kate to walk further ahead and observe the flowers in front of the solemn crowds.
Ms James notes that Harry ensured that Meghan followed his body cues and even crouched to the ground to study the flowers to show Meghan he’s not moving yet’ in order to allow ‘William and Kate their personal moment of reflection’.
She added: ‘This is a rare sight since the couple moved to the US of Harry once again putting himself in charge of the choreography, implying he very comfortably slid back into the routine he knew so well once he was back working the appearance in tandem with his brother.’
At a later stage, Ms James notes that the two ‘alienated’ brothers showcased ‘enduring mirroring’.
‘This has been a feature of their body language together since they both reached their late teens,’ she explained.
‘When they were younger it defined a tight, like-minded double act. Here though, after all the rifts and recriminations, that natural tendency to mirror each other is still as strong as before.’
The royal siblings are seen walking in ‘unified step and posture’ while also standing in ‘identical poses, heads bowed and hands clasped in front of their torso’.
Ms James added: ‘Even when they were out of sight of each other, greeting the crowds back-to-back on either side of the road they both performed their same signature self-soothe barrier gesture of placing a hand on the stomach.
‘At another point we can see the two men crouched down in identical poses as their wives stand beside them.’
The expert added that the pair’s ‘puppetry’ behaviour should serve as an optimistic ‘sign of hope’ that they may reunite at a later stage in their lives.
‘It suggests their relationship works on the deepest levels, something Harry endorsed when, even in the middle of plugging his book Spare, he announced that he loved his brother and always would,’ she said.
‘Sibling relationships are notoriously complex and this one more than most, but the suggestion is that ties are still there despite all the very public fallouts.’
Indeed, regardless of any ‘hurt feelings shared between Harry and William, the brothers are said to have made a lifelong pledge – to honour their late mother, Princess Diana, together.
Writing in their biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Finding Freedom, authors Omid Scobieand Carolyn Durand recounted a conversation with a close friend of Prince Harry‘s.
‘Both brothers are deeply devoted to carrying on their mother’s legacy and no amount of hurt feelings would ever get in the way of that,’ the unnamed source said via the Independent.
‘It is an absolute priority and even amidst this other stuff, they simply wouldn’t proceed without one another together,’ they added.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Sussex’s return to the UK is said to have prompted speculation that they may, at some stage, reunite.
A friend told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s too soon now but there is a hope and a belief that one day they will appear in public together and that will completely change the narrative. There is communication between them.
‘I don’t think people quite realise what a bad place Harry was in mentally around the time of that decision to move to America. He was so unhappy. He has grown up a lot, and having children has changed him a lot as well.’
Another added: ‘There is a bit of optimism that we might be starting to see a change in sentiment about Harry. It’s one step at a time.’
Despite the strained bond shared between the two estranged brothers, both Harry and William are said to have made a lifelong pledge – to honour their late mother, Princess Diana, together.
Writing in their biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Finding Freedom, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand recounted a conversation with a close friend of Prince Harry’s.
‘Both brothers are deeply devoted to carrying on their mother’s legacy and no amount of hurt feelings would ever get in the way of that,’ the unnamed source said via the Independent.
‘It is an absolute priority and even amidst this other stuff, they simply wouldn’t proceed without one another together,’ they added.
But their different approaches to remembering their mother became apparent at the 2021 unveiling of Diana’s statue, when Harry’s relaxed approach contrasted with that of a cautious Prince William, who said ‘it’s important to unveil it right,’ a lip reader claimed.
The siblings marked what would have been Princess Diana’s 60th birthday by unveiling a sculpture created in her honour by Ian Rank-Broadley and placed in the remodelled gardens their mother loved, all packed with 4,000 of her favourite plants and flowers.
But what had originally been planned as a large celebration to mark her life was later classed as a ‘private event’ – largely due to bad blood between the brothers and Harry’s determination to control media coverage.
Harry’s wife Meghan Markle remained at their £11million mansion in Montecito with their then-two-year-old son Archie and Lilibet Diana, who was born 21 days prior to the statue unveiling at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
The brothers are said to have barely spoken and have an ‘incredibly strained’ relationship after years of rows, including the ‘truth bombs’ the Sussexes have dropped in TV interviews watched by tens of millions of people around the world.
Yet at the late Queen’s funeral service at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel on September 19, William directed Harry and Meghan to their seats ahead of the committal service.
The brothers have put aside their feud for a united front to remember the monarch, and again showed that they could at least be on speaking terms as they interacted with each other in the chapel at Windsor Castle.
William was seen walking to the end of the pew while holding back his son Prince George next to wife Kate Middleton and daughter Princess Charlotte, as he beckoned for Harry and Meghan to walk past them.
The week prior, the brothers followed behind the Queen’s coffin for a procession to Westminster Hall.
To both experts and royal fans, the four engagements William and Harry shared in the aftermath of the late monarch’s death appeared to be a turning point in the frayed relationship of the foursome.
But it sadly proved to be a false dawn. Although they had temporarily put aside the differences that had been sparked by Megxit, the walkabout was not a lasting peace process.
Veteran royal correspondent Robert Jobson wrote in his 2023 book, ‘Our King,’ that the idea that the walkabout had caused some kind of rapprochement was, sadly, a mere ‘illusion’.
It marked the final time the foursome – once dubbed the ‘Fab four’ – made a public appearance together.
