Prince Harry and Prince William’s Recent Joint Appearances Have Reportedly Taken a Lot of Effort

Since Queen Elizabeth’s death on September 8, Prince Harry and Prince William have been appearing together publicly—which, as anyone who follows royal family feud drama knows, is kind of a big deal. The brothers have rarely been seen together since Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from their roles as working royals in early 2020 (if you need it, here’s a very detailed breakdown of Harry and Will’s reported royal rift).

While royal fans have been holding out some hope that coming together to mourn the death of their grandmother is helping Will and Harry repair their fractured relationship, new details from royal insiders suggest that’s not *exactly* what’s happening.

“The joint appearances take effort,” a source who is friends with both Will and Harry told the UK’s Sunday Times. “There was an understanding that ‘we need to show solidarity,’ not just ‘we need to do this because it’s our duty.’ But I don’t think it goes much beyond that. There have been some awkward moments this week. I definitely don’t get the sense of any deeper meaningful rapprochement or a sense that this is it: Things will be mended.”

According to the Sunday Times, Will and Harry have had limited hangouts in private, and while they were both reportedly at a dinner at Buckingham Palace this week, “it is understood there have been no cups of tea at their neighboring Windsor homes and the lines of communication have mostly run through their aides.”

FWIW, the Sunday Times also reported that the estranged brothers did actually have an impromptu moment together on Thursday (which just so happened to be Harry’s 38th birthday) when they were driving in opposite directions in their cars. According to the report, “The brothers drove past each other but then stopped, reversed, wound down their windows, and chatted for a while.”