Despite the high-profile estrangement between Prince Harry and Prince William having no end in sight, one simple olive branch saw the brothers join together in a poignant and emotional reunion

Prince William and Prince Harry have been embroiled in a bitter rift(Image: In Pictures via Getty Images)

Prince William turbulent relationship with Prince Harry has been a major topic of discussion for years, with the royal brothers having long been stuck in a very public stalemate.

But despite there seemingly being no possibility of reconciliation in the near future, one major family event saw the brothers put their differences aside and call a temporary truce almost three years ago. The pair have not seen each other during Harry’s recent trips back to the UK, including for the court case over his security arrangements in the country, which he fought – and ultimately lost – to have police protection for him and his family when returning to his homeland.

The feud between William and Harry came to a temporary end several years ago(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

And although William and Harry’s relationship continues to be at an all time low, which is largely linked to a series of bombshells detailed in Harry’s memoir Spare, their feud came to an abrupt – albeit temporary – truce in 2022 after the death of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

William reportedly reached out to Harry via text in the days after Her Late Majesty’s passing, asking if Harry and Meghan wished to join him and Kate on the Long Walk in Windsor, to view floral tributes and meet grieving members of the public who had gathered to pay their respects to the monarch.

Their display of solidarity was the first and only time that the two royal couples, who had once affectionately been referred to as the ‘Fab Four’, had been seen together in public since Harry and Meghan took a step back from their duties as senior royals and relocated to California.

The last time the Fab Four were seen together(Image: Getty Images)

A well-placed source told the Daily Mail at the time: “It happened very quickly – remarkable really considering they didn’t see each other in Scotland.”

The publication went on to confirm that it was William’s decision to extend the olive branch to his brother, and “absolutely not” the idea of his father King Charles, as was previously reported.

It claimed William felt that a united front was essential in the wake of the Queen’s death, as the family reunited to share in their collective grief in front of the world.

Both brothers had flown to Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire when they had been informed of the Queen’s failing health, but both they tragically missed the chance to say their last goodbyes to their grandmother, arriving in Scotland after the Queen had died.

William and Harry called a truce to grieve the loss of the Queen together as a family (Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

In the months after Queen Elizabeth’s passing, Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare was released, in which he claimed he found out about his grandmother’s death via the media and not from his family.

However, royal author Robert Hardman claims Harry’s version of events isn’t true, instead insisting that the royal family attempted to contact Harry to discuss the Queen’s health. Hardman wrote: “In his memoir, Spare he suggests that no one had told him and that he was reduced to learning the news from the BBC website as the plane was landing. Not exactly.”

“A member of the Palace staff says that the King had been urgently trying to make contact with his younger son. There were repeated attempts to get through to him but no calls were going through because Harry was airborne,’ said the official.”

Despite the brothers not having seen each other in several years, it seems that the royal feud between the brothers is still very much alive. Earlier this week, William’s joked about warring families that seemed to stem from his own personal history.

As William visited Harry’s old Army regiment – the Army Air Corps in Suffolk – on Wednesday, he joked with servicemen and women about not always wanting to see their families.

During an important discussion as the Colonel-in-Chief about the welfare of service people in the regiment, he lightened the mood when he joked, after asking one soldier if he spent enough time with his family “some of them might not want to see you that much – it’s a mixed bag”.