Prince Harry and Prince William meet crowds outside Windsor Castle a day before the Sussex royal wedding on May 19, 2018
Video of Prince William stepping out in support of Prince Harry ahead of his royal wedding to Meghan Markle resurfaced on TikTok after speculation over whether their rift might heal.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on May 19, 2018, and the day before the ceremony the two brothers went to greet well-wishers gathered in the streets outside.
One fan of Meghan and Harry posted a clip of the moment on TikTok with the message: “I hope that one day the past will be far behind them and they will find each other again, brotherly love.” The footage was liked 46k times and viewed 1.5 million times.
Why It Matters
The post came around a week after a landmark visit to Britain in which Prince Harry saw King Charles III for the first time in around a year-and-a-half and just a few months after declaring his father was not speaking to him anymore.
The pair had tea at Clarence House on Wednesday, September 10, before Harry was seen leaving again just under an hour later.
After the apparent reconciliation, talk in Britain turned to whether Prince William might one day also reopen communication with Harry, who he has not seen since September 2022, in the days after Queen
What to Know
In the TikTok video, first Harry and then William step through the gates of Windsor Castle flanked by security and followed by a Kensington Palace aide before approaching members of the public gathered behind metal crowd control barriers.
What to Know
In the TikTok video, first Harry and then William step through the gates of Windsor Castle flanked by security and followed by a Kensington Palace aide before approaching members of the public gathered behind metal crowd control barriers.
In the clip, the brothers look smiling and happy as they shake hands and stand shoulder to shoulder, though in reality Harry wrote in his memoir Spare that William had initially refused to take part and also to spend the night at his brother’s hotel.
“He’d been scheduled to join us for the evening,” Harry wrote. “But, like Meg’s father, he’d canceled last minute. He’d told me, just before he attended tea with Granny: ‘Can’t do it, Harold. Kate and the kids.’
“I’d reminded him that this was our tradition, that we’d had dinner before his wedding, that we’d gone together and visited the crowds. He held fast. ‘Can’t do it.’
“I pushed. ‘Why you being like this, Willy? I was with you the whole night before you married Kate. Why you doing this?'”
William suggested Harry did not actually need to do the walkabout while Harry replied he had been told to by the press office.
“I felt sick about it,” Harry wrote. “I’d always believed, despite our problems, that our underlying bond was strong.”
In the end, William backed down and did the walkabout as well joining Harry for dinner the night before the wedding, while Harry said he suspected his brother’s meeting with Queen Elizabeth II might have been the reason.
Whatever the truth about that moment between the brothers and what it meant for their bond, the significant public interaction with the TikTok post further underscores the public appetite for royal reconciliation.
What People Are Saying
One fan commented on the video: “Please tell me this is recent! I hope they can all mend fences and reconnect!”
Another wrote, “finally the brothers stand and walking together 🥰” while a third wrote: “Their mom would be happy to see them vibing🥰.”
What Happens Next
After his U.K. visit, Prince Harry told The Guardian during a trip to Ukraine that his focus for the next year will be on his father, suggesting there may be more trips to Britain for him in the months to come.
Reconciliation with William will, however, be a far more difficult question to broach as the breakdown in that relationship over 2018 and 2019 was the epicenter of the royal rift.
