The death of Queen Elizabeth the second could help kickstart a reconciliation between Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family following an alleged estrangement and their move to the United States.
The couple, who were in the UK when the Queen died on Thursday, joined forces with Harry’s brother William and his wife Catherine on Saturday Windsor Castle. It was the four’s first public appearance together since 2020.
Dressed in black, they gazed together at the flower offerings left by the audience before greeting the crowd without showing it Status of the relationship between the two couples.
But the four’s decision to step in front of the cameras together seemed to be a sign of it Make progress in repairing broken links.
According to the trade press on British Royalty, William, the heir to the throne, has turned to his younger brother, who has been critical of the family since stepping down from royal duties.
Two days earlier the situation was very different: Enrique, 37, arrived alone in a vehicle in Balmoral, Scotland, where the Queen had recently died.
Guillermo and other members of the family, excluding Catalina, had previously arrived in a single car.
Richard Fitzwilliams, a royals specialist, said Thursday that the fact the brothers arrived separately showed they were “estranged”.
Harry and Meghan have “caused a lot of damage to the royal family in recent months” with their anti-monarchy comments, she added.
“In the future, the ball is theirs and it depends on how they want to play,” he added.
Different ways
After the death of Diana, the princes’ mother, in a traffic accident in Paris in 1997, the brothers shocked the world by walking behind her coffin in the funeral procession.
Guillermo was 15 years old and Enrique was only 12.
As adults, they seemed very close and this continued after William married his longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton in 2011.
But after Enrique’s marriage to Meghan, an American actress, in 2018, the relationship began to sour.
Enrique said in a 2019 interview that he and his brother had “taken different paths.” A year later, he and Meghan announced their move to the United States.
In the pair’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan assured that Catalina made her cry.
They also claimed that a royal, whom they did not identify, was speculating on the skin color of the couple’s future child as Meghan is multiracial.
William responded by saying the royal family is “not at all” racist.
Relations between the brothers were clearly distant when they reunited last year to unveil a statue of their mother.
They also did not meet for the Queen’s platinum jubilee in June.
Meghan recently told The Cut magazine that she now feels “free” to tell her own story, which some saw as a veiled threat to the monarchy.
unpredictable
However, since the death of Elizabeth II, there have been signs of a possible loosening of the estrangement.
Despite Harry Winfrey saying his brother and father were “stuck” in the monarchy, Charles appeared ready to reconcile with his son in his first speech as king, expressing “love” for him and Meghan.
“He offers an olive branch, but he does it with great care because he knows they’re unpredictable,” Fitzwilliams said.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are hugely popular with young people, but openly criticizing the monarchy could pose a huge risk, he added, especially at a time of national mourning.
“There is no doubt that the Sussexes are going to be attracting a lot of attention at the moment,” he said after British public opinion was firmly with the rest of the family.
Her performance with William and Catherine, who became Prince and Princess of Wales after Charles’ accession to the throne, could open a new chapter in family relations.
But all that could change with the expected release of Enrique’s memoir later this year.
“Of course they’re going to the funeral, but that’s impossible to say,” Fitzwilliams said.