Prince William and Prince Harry’s moment of fraternal unity following the death of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, has featured in a new viral video, as footage from the late monarch’s lying-in-state period has resurfaced on social media site TikTok.
The princes’ relationship has increasingly fascinated the public in recent years, peaking with the release of Harry’s memoir Spare in January 2023 in which he made a number of revelations about his brother and the experiences which led to his split from the monarchy with Meghan Markle.
Since Harry and Meghan’s move to the U.S. in 2020, the two princes have attended only a limited number of events together back in Britain, with the death of their grandmother in September 2022 providing the greatest opportunity for a public reunion.
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Harry and Meghan were fortuitously visiting Britain at the time of the queen’s death to attend charity events, and though it was later revealed that friction between the royal brothers persisted behind closed doors, they came together for the major ceremonies honoring the queen’s life, between her death and state funeral 11 days later.
Uploaded to TikTok by user _thequeenmath on January 25, footage of William and Harry together during one of these events has gone viral, cut together in a compilation highlighting the same ceremony which was performed for the brothers’ great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in 2002.
On September 17, 2022, Harry and William took part in a special ceremony known as the “Vigil of the Princes” during the late queen’s lying-in-state, when her coffin was displayed at Westminster Hall where it was viewed by members of the public.
At all times the coffin was guarded by a detachment of either military members or members of the queen’s own family.
The “Vigil of the Princes” is a ceremony that first took place in 1936 during the lying-in-state of King George V. This saw the king’s four sons (all of whom served in the armed forces) dressed in ceremonial uniforms standing watch in a vigil over their father’s coffin for one of the watch periods.
This was repeated in 2002 for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Instead of four sons (she only had two daughters, one of which was Queen Elizabeth II), Elizabeth’s four grandsons stood vigil over her coffin at the lying-in-state.
When it came time for Queen Elizabeth II’s ceremony, she had two formal royal vigils: one by her four children (King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward) and another by her eight grandchildren.
Though there had been speculation over whether William and Harry would stand side-by-side following their public tensions and whether or not Harry would appear in uniform after being stripped of his military patronages after stepping down from the monarchy, they both appeared to honor their grandmother.
Captioned “The queens’ grandchildren perform vigil over their coffins 🕊️,” the compilation of the two ceremonies has been viewed over 400,000 times on TikTok so far, and gained in excess of 36,000 likes and numerous comments, many of which have praised the royals.
“United in grief” wrote one user, with another adding: “The most beautiful royal funerals I’ve seen are the British ones, it’s an unparalleled respect and very admirable.”
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.