The alleged siblings, along with their wives Princesses Kate and Meghan, attended tributes to the Queen at Windsor Castle and spoke to well-wishers in their first public appearance since the Queen’s platinum jubilee earlier this year. According to a royal source, Prince William extended the invitation to Prince Harry to appear in public together as he believed it was “an important show of unity at an incredibly difficult time for the family”. The Queen died on Thursday (September 8) at Balmoral Castle aged 96, after 70 years on the throne. The following day, King Charles III was officially proclaimed King at an accession ceremony at St James’s Palace in London. The new monarch used his first address to the nation to confirm William as the new Prince of Wales, as well as send a message of “love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives abroad”. Both the King’s and William’s gestures have been seen as very public attempts to heal the rift between the Sussexes and the royal family, which began when Harry and Meghan decided to step down as senior members of the royal family. The couple moved to California in 2020. Last year, they gave a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in which they claimed that a member of the royal family had expressed concerns about the color of their son Archie’s skin when he was born and that Meghan refused help after considering suicide. Royal insiders have hailed William’s gesture to Harry as an “olive branch” but remain divided over whether it means the brothers are on a true reconciliation path. (AP) Omid Scobie, executive royal editor for Yahoo! News and author of Finding Freedom, a biography of the Sussexes, tweeted: “The Welsh were always scheduled to greet well-wishers at Windsor Castle, but royal sources say the decision to invite the Sussexes was made at the eleventh hour. “It is, without a doubt, an important moment in the history of the relationship between the two brothers. “Just as we saw after the death of Prince Philip and at his funeral, these are the moments when members of the royal family can put their differences to one side to focus on the loss that brought them together,” he added. “Today’s public reunion was a show of the highest respect for the Queen.” Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told the Metro that the siblings’ reunion is “what the Queen would want”. He continued: “Unfortunately we have lost one of our great monarchs, but King Charles extended a hand of friendship and William made a positive move and so [the Sussexes] they responded.” Fitzwilliams said there were still questions to be answered about Harry’s role during the ceremonies and ceremonies ahead of the Queen’s funeral on Monday (September 19), but he was optimistic that “one of the deepest royal fissures can be medicinal”. Meanwhile, Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and royal biographer, wrote in The Sun that it was up to Harry to meet William and King Charles in the middle. “Harry needs to co-operate too if it’s going to work,” she wrote. “William offered an olive branch. His father has offered him an olive branch. Now it’s Harry’s turn. “In death there is life and in life there can be forgiveness.” But some royal experts are less convinced by the show of unity, including ITV’s royal editor Chris Chip. In his article, published on Sunday, September 11, Ship wrote: “It is not the two brothers who embark on a sudden path to reconciliation. “It was, I hear, very difficult for both William and Harry to bury their differences and go public together like this.” (REUTERS) He continued: “William and Harry putting on a show of unity for 45 minutes in memory of their grandmother is far from being truly united.” BBC royal correspondent Sean Coughlan also urged fans not to get too excited about the siblings’ relationship just yet. “It’s going to be complicated and private between two brothers… Even among the most carefully choreographed steps of public mourning, there are still families and people who fall for us and make up,” he wrote.
