Prince Harry Feels ‘Heartbroken,’ ‘Excluded,’ and Is Still Feuding With Prince

Welcome to this special edition of Royalist, The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family, bringing together the latest developments as the world prepares for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral tomorrow, Monday September 19.

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“I just wish they were together”

“Heartbroken” and “devastated”: that is how Prince Harry is reportedly feeling after the military uniform he was finally allowed to wear at yesterday’s vigil in front of the queen’s coffin was stripped of her initials. He also feels “excluded” after a week around his royal relations, and the rescinding of a palace party invitation, according to a detailed report in today’s U.K. Sunday Times.

Those close to Harry and Prince William also confirm to the paper’s royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah The Daily Beast’s previous reporting—that there has been “no meaningful rapprochement” between the brothers, despite all the carefully choreographed sharing of physical space over the last week, including yesterday’s vigil featuring all Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren.

The Sunday Times reports that Harry and William were both at a Buckingham Palace dinner on Tuesday, “but it is understood there have been no cups of tea at their neighboring Windsor homes and the lines of communication have mostly run through their aides.”

A friend of the brothers told the Times: “The joint appearances take effort. There was an understanding that ‘we need to show solidarity’, not just ‘we need to do this because it’s our duty’. But I don’t think it goes much beyond that. There have been some awkward moments this week. I definitely don’t get the sense of any deeper meaningful rapprochement or a sense that this is it: things will be mended.”

As The Daily Beast has reported, Nikkhah intimates the constant shadowy specter is Harry’s memoir and what it may or may not reveal—and Meghan’s determination to also say what she wants. A friend of both brothers told the Sunday Times: “We know there are other things that will come out in the future that will be very damaging.”

Tantalizingly, the most intimate exchange between the brothers as related by the Times happened by accident on Thursday, both driving their cars in opposite directions on Harry’s 38^th birthday, with William having just picked up his own three kids from school. “The brothers drove past each other but then stopped, reversed, wound down their windows and chatted for a while,” the Times says.

Sources close to William told the paper he is “solely focused on doing what is right to honor the queen”. He is “processing his grief and the death of his grandmother, rather than sitting there processing his relationship with Harry.” He does not want the focus to be on him and Harry and other rows within the family. “That weighs on him a lot. He doesn’t want that,” a friend told the Times. On this he and Harry agree; a friend of Harry’s said: “People need to just stop talking about all this stuff and focus on my grandmother.”

A friend of Harry’s said that “the world wants them to reconcile,” but “it is very hard to make any personal decisions” with the added public weight of “How does it look?” every time the brothers share physical space.

A friend of the Sussexes added: “They are very sensitive to how everything is happening and very much see the bigger picture, not just from a personal point of view but from the family’s point of view. Meghan is not afraid of throwing in a hand grenade here and there, but there are no toys being thrown out of the pram now. Their view is: ‘Let’s get on and do it—we’ll be where we need to be and we won’t be where we don’t need to be.’”

A lifelong friend of William and Harry told the paper: “They are both just doing their jobs and will go back to their own lives after that. It’s all really sad. I just wish they were together, to help each other for the rest of their lives, which is what they were born to do.”

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

“It’s hard—nobody likes to feel like they’re being excluded”

The ongoing family conflicts are real—now focused on a painful snub over his military uniform and the party snub which saw Harry and Meghan first invited and disinvited to the big Buckingham Palace shindig featuring world leaders tonight, Sunday.

While Harry—so far this week only allowed to wear conventional mourning attire, having been stripped of his military titles when he quit…