Archival clips of Prince Harry and Prince William laughing and spending time together have been widely shared by fans after an edited compilation was posted on TikTok.
The royal brothers' relationship has been the center of increased public focus in recent months after the release of Harry's big-budget media projects, the six-part Netflix docuseries Harry and Meghan, and memoir Spare.
In an interview with 60 Minutes' Anderson Cooper in January, Harry said that he was motivated, in part, to write his memoir to dispel the established idea that he and William were close until his 2018 marriage to Meghan Markle.
"It it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up," he told Cooper. "And also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers."
The prince laid bare the strained relationships he has with William and their father, King Charles, in Spare and the interviews promoting it. When asked, he also told Cooper that he wasn't speaking to his father or brother, having last seen them publicly in person at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II back in September 2022.
For his part, William has not spoken publicly about his relationship with his brother since Harry's claims.
Fans of the royals have taken to social media to post footage of the brothers in happier times, with many commenting regret at the state of their once apparent ease with one another.
@ourlilibet I miss the brothers 💔 #queenelizabeth #princephilip #princecharles #kingcharles #princewilliam #princeharry #meghanmarkle #archieharrisonmountbattenwindsor #lilibetdianamountbattenwindsor #lilibet #mountbattenwindsor #princegeorge #princesscharlotte #princelouis #dianaspencer #dianaprincessofwales #princessofwales #princeofwales #dukeofsussux #royalfamily #lizztruss #rishisunak #borrisjohnson #royalfamily #fyp #america #russia #miketindall #zaraphillips #princessanne ♬ sonido original - Shakira Lyrics
Uploaded to TikTok by user @ourlilibet, one video compilation showing the brothers laughing as well as standing together to mourn the late queen has been widely shared, reaching over one million views and receiving in excess of 118,000 likes and 500 comments.
The video post is captioned "I miss the brothers," complete with a broken heart emoji and is set to the tune of Shakira's "Whenever, Wherever." The video is overlaid with lyrics from the 2001 song.
"I miss them too," a TikTok user commented on the post. "Love them both I hope they reconcile they need each other."
Another commenter wrote: "I really hope they work things out some way."
"Diana would've wanted that their relationship would be the same today," wrote one user, invoking Harry and William's late mother.
One comment simply read: "Happy moments!"
A clip used in the video shows the royal brothers at Windsor Castle ahead of Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018. William and Harry both walked from the castle to St George's Chapel together, greeting well-wishers along the way before eventually taking their places at the high altar of the chapel.
Another clip shows the brothers dancing at the 2007 "Concert for Diana," a large-scale musical concert held to mark the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, which occurred in a high-speed Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
Both brothers gave a speech at the event and had a hand in arranging the line-up of performers which included Sir Elton John, Kanye West and Nelly Furtado.
This clip fades into footage of William and Harry at the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II after her death at the age of 96 in September 2022.
On September 10, 2022, the brothers reunited with their wives, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, for the first time since Harry and Meghan stepped down from their working royal roles in 2020 and moved to California. They laid flowers together outside Windsor Castle.
The brothers reunited again four days later with the queen's other grandchildren to stand in a special vigil around her coffin at Westminster Hall. The TikTok footage shows William and Harry as they processed through the hall to the catafalque where the queen's coffin was resting.
The brothers have not appeared together in public since the day of their grandmother's state funeral. Royal fans may have an opportunity to see them together next at the coronation ceremony for King Charles on May 6.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
