Why Prince William Made Time For Donald Trump—and Not Prince Harry

In June 2019, King Charles III and Queen Camilla—then known as the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall—greeted President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, as they disembarked from Marine One in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. More than six years later, Trump is back in the White House, and Prince William and Kate Middleton were the ones to greet their American visitors when the Trumps touched down near Windsor Castle Wednesday.

It’s a reminder of how much has changed for the royals since the last time the Trump family traveled to the U.K. Back then, Meghan Markle was taking maternity leave from her royal role—but Prince Harry was still milling about, and keeping his distance from the president, who had called Meghan “nasty” months before the visit. These days, Harry and Meghan both have uneasy relationships with their extended family, as well as Harry’s native country. Last week, Harry traveled to the UK for a four-day stay. Yet he wasn’t able to make it onto William’s schedule, in stark contrast to the red carpet being rolled out for Trump.

Of course, Trump’s visit has been in the works for the last six months, while Harry’s trip was planned with less notice. But as a source with knowledge told Vanity Fair last week, the brothers are currently further away from reconciliation than ever before, and William “is adamant that he wants nothing to do with his brother.”

Tuesday’s walk was a part of a tradition in which the Prince of Wales, essentially the monarch’s understudy, is the first to greet an American president when they arrive for a state visit. That protocol has been broken before: Earlier this week, royal biographer Robert Hardman revealed that Barack Obama’s final visit in 2016 actually kicked off with a drive in Prince Philip’s Range Rover. But this time around, it made perfect sense for William to slip into the role.

Over the last few months, William has reportedly been tasked with launching a charm offensive at the president. It started in February, when a meeting between William and Trump unexpectedly swelled to 40 minutes and ultimately left the president declaring that William looked “really, very handsome.” It’s unclear what William, an environmental defender who has voiced support for the people of Gaza, thinks of Trump himself—but a palace source told the Telegraph that William sees political neutrality as an important part of his royal duties. “It’s important that we’re not involved in day-to-day politics,” the source said. “But when the time is right and there’s an ask for support from His Majesty’s Government, the prince is happy to play his role.”

If there is any hope for the brothers’ relationship in the future, it will come because Harry is currently working on repairing his relationship to—and his image in—the UK. Harry has returned to the UK for the WellChild Awards, which celebrate children with disabilities, multiple times since he moved to the US in 2020. This year, however, was the first time that he used the engagement as an excuse for an extended stay. In addition to a few stops in London, Harry traveled to Nottingham, where he posed for selfies with fans in an impromptu walkabout. He also made a personal $1.5 million donation to Children in Need, a group that helps struggling youth in the area. It’s not unheard of for a royal to dip into their own pockets to support a charity, but this act is rare enough that it is usually a major signal about their charitable priorities.

The other major headline of Harry’s visit was a 45 minute meeting with the king, his and Charles’s first face-to-face since days after Charles announced his cancer diagnosis in February 2024. So far, the details of what was discussed during that meeting have remained under wraps, a sign that Harry intends to honor his father’s request for privacy in exchange for a normalized relationship. Now that Harry’s major court cases against the government and British papers are resolved, he clearly wants to have deeper ties with his father and his native country—even though he didn’t get the security deal he wanted to bring his family back with him.

With their eye towards their duty to the UK and the monarch, William and Kate jumped headlong into Trump’s historic state visit. While the optics of jovially spending time with Trump might not age especially well for the future king, the decision to go all-in was probably easy for William. Having a relationship with the president of the US is a part of his job description; having one with his own brother is not.