Prince Harry Faces the Chill: Duke 'Only Has Himself to Blame' for Icy Funeral Reunion With Prince William
Prince Harry surprised everyone by "secretly" attending Lord Robert Fellowes' memorial service on Thursday, August 29, in which onlookers spilled how he "kept his distance" from Prince William.
"The Oasis brothers had a frosty relationship for a great many years, and I suspect that William and Harry are going to have an even frostier relationship for a good few years," royal expert Charles Rae shared when comparing the princes' estrangement to the notorious falling out between sibling rock stars Noel and Liam Gallagher.
"For people to call it a reunion, it was hardly that," he added. "They were at the same place, it was a funeral, [and] they sat at the back. As I understand it, they didn't look at each other, and they certainly didn't talk to each other."
The expert also discussed the Duke of Sussex's "back and forth" with his intended travel plans earlier this week and how his surprise appearance at the future king-attended memorial service doesn't mean much at all.
"At the beginning of the week, when Harry was spotted at the airport, there was a big thing made that he was coming to New York to attend a UN climate change meeting, which doesn't happen till next week," Rae continued. "But his people were giving indications that he wasn't going to attend the funeral. So we all thought he's doing the right thing and taking any possibility of friction away from a funeral."
He further observed, "Now, fortunately, he surprised us all, he's gone to the funeral. He's paid his last respects to his uncle, and Harry will be back on the plane again, I'm assuming, heading straight back to the States."
This follows reports suggesting the Prince of Wales may have tried to block his estranged sibling's attendance.
"I couldn’t say what the ins and outs were, but what I can tell you is that Prince William is a decent guy," they added. "He would understand that his brother wanted to be there and that [his invitation] would be a matter for the Spencer family."
They then recalled, "Don't forget it was his [William's] idea, despite everything that had happened, to ask Harry and Meghan to join himself and Catherine for that walkabout at Windsor after Queen Elizabeth died. He did that knowing what his brother had done and that he planned to bring out his book. But he will always do the right thing in the circumstances."
Lord Robert Fellowes was the principal private secretary for the late Queen Elizabeth II from 1990 to 1999, which is classified by many as the most turbulent era of the revered monarch's lengthy reign.
He married the late Diana, Princess of Wales's sister, Lady Jane Spencer, in 1978, and due to his role as a loyal courtier to Elizabeth II, would go on to develop a "frosty' dynamic with his royal sister-in-law when the "War of the Waleses" between Diana and then-Prince Charles dominated the '90s.
GBN interviewed Rae.