Prince Charles' decision to get his grieving family to walk back to Windsor's private apartments after the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral allowed his sons a possible moment of reconciliation, an expert has claimed.
Cars appeared outside St George's Chapel after the scaled down yet moving service, but the heir to the throne subtly gestured for them to drive on.
Instead, the family walked in the beautiful spring sunshine, giving the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to opportunity to talk in their first reunion since the Sussexes' shock interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The Duchess of Cambridge was with them at the beginning, but dropped back allowing the brothers to talk alone.
Writing for the Daily Mail, Richard Kay claims this quick decision may have made all the difference.
He said: "On a day of meticulous planning, it was the one and only off-the-cuff decision. And it turned out to be a masterstroke."
He added: "This could have been a moment of risk, instead it allowed us the first glimpse of the possibility that somehow William and Harry can put their bitter split behind them and rebuild that once whisper-close bond.
"It is hard to read too much into this encounter, for it was all too brief, but if there is to be reconciliation between the brothers, this was surely the moment of its inception."
Dickie Arbiter, the Queen's former press secretary, commented on the moment during an interview with Good Morning Britain.
He said: "They were reasonably animated from what we could see.
"The cameras weren't on them for long, but we did see they had a certain amount of animated conversation.
"It was probably Charles' initiative sending the cars away so that everybody could walk 200 metres back to the castle as a good ice breaker."
Charles, William and Harry reportedly went for a two-hour walk after the service, which was watched by millions of people around the world.
An insider told The Sun : “It’s early days but you’d hope this is exactly the first step Philip would have wished for.”
“It is not known what was said behind closed doors and when the cameras were turned off, but it's unfathomable to think Megxit and Oprah did not come up.
“Harry and William appeared cordial as the cameras rolled and that seemed to pave the way for Charles to join them when everyone had left.”
