REUNITED,BUT STILL DIVIDED

The Fab Four Keep their distance

- Judy Kean

It’s a solemn occasion, so beaming smiles would have been inappropriate. Still, the fact the royals looked so glum when they turned out for Remembrance Day events on November 11 didn’t help dispel rumours that relations are still strained between the Cambridges and the Sussexes.

The attendance of princes William and Harry and their wives Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the Festival of Remembrance and then the Remembrance Day service was the first time the Fab Four have been together in public with the rest of the royals since Harry publicly admitted he and his brother were no longer as close as they had been.

It was a good PR opportunity for the two couples to show they are making the effort to mend fences. But rather than being pictured interacting together, they kept their distance.

At the festival, held at Royal Albert Hall on the Saturday night, the couples arrived separately and sat a long way apart. Kate and William were in prime position beside the Queen, while Meghan and Harry were further back, behind British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

When asked about the couple’s seating arrangements, Kensington Palace pointed out it was protocol, and that they sat in the same positions last year. However, in previous years the four have been positioned in adjoining seats.

The palace also said protocol was responsible for the fact that Kate and Meghan did not stand next to each other during the service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall the next day.

While William and Harry joined several other senior royals, including their father Prince Charles (70), to take part in the annual wreath-laying ceremony honouring those who have lost their lives in wars, their wives stood on balconies of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which look down on the Cenotaph.