Estranged Princes William and Harry were once again united in grief Monday as they appeared for a final farewell to their late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The once-tight brothers put their feud behind them as they walked behind their father, King Charles III, and their aunt and uncles, in a solemn procession conveying the monarch’s flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey.
However, new heir apparent William, 40, and his woke California-based brother Harry, 38, avoided eye contact as they stood next to one another looking stone-faced.
The Prince of Wales was wearing his uniform, while his brother was forced to don a morning suit after being denied the privilege of wearing military garb because of his decision to step back from being a working member of the royal family.
Harry was also banned from saluting during the procession to Westminster Abbey – standing out while other royals including the new monarch, his brother and Princess Anne all performed the gesture.
The feuding siblings’ reunion came two days after they took part in a vigil for their grandmother at Westminster Hall, where Harry wore his uniform by a special permission of the King.
After entering the Abbey ahead of the funeral service, Prince William took his seat in the front row along with his wife and their two oldest children, George, 9, and Charlotte, 7, while Prince Harry settled into the second row on the other side of the aisle behind his father and other senior royals.
For many royal watchers, seeing them in funeral events painfully evokes 1997, when the brothers — then just 15 and 12 — walked behind the casket of their mother, Princess Diana, after her car-crash death.
That includes future king William, who admitted that events for his grandmother “brought back memories” of his mother’s funeral.
The queen’s death has also forced together the brothers, who stopped talking after Harry quit the UK and life as a senior royal, joining wife Meghan Markle, 41, in a series of damning interviews accusing his family of bullying and even racism.
The estrangement continued right up to the queen’s death, when William made no plans to see his brother even though he was staying just a short walk from him during a rare UK visit.
The brothers also made their separate ways to Scotland to try to see the dying queen, with Harry forced to go alone without Markle — and first to leave the next morning, reportedly without seeing his brother and father.
It made it all the more surprising when the brothers and their wives — Markle and new Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, 40 — went on a walkabout together Sunday last week to view tributes left at Windsor Castle.
Body language experts noted clear tensions between the group, however, with royal watchers questioning if it is a genuine attempt at healing their shattered relationship or just a show of unity in honor of the queen.
The same applies to Harry and his father, King Charles III, 73, whom he accused of passing on the “pain and suffering” that forced him to quit royal life.
But in one of his first acts as king, Charles made a concession to his youngest son, allowing him to wear his military uniform at events for his grandmother — despite being stripped of the right after quitting his royal duties.
Harry, meanwhile, insisted that he would “now honor my father in his new role as King Charles III.”
However, he and Markle are now reportedly again “furious” at the royals after allegedly being told their children will not be made His and Her Royal Highness despite the shift in the order of succession, which leaves them sixth and seventh in line for the throne.
The royal family and their staff will remain in mourning for another seven days after Monday’s funeral, the new king has said.
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