Harry and William sit opposite each other at Prince Philip’s funeral in first meeting since Oprah interview

All eyes were on Harry during his grandfather’s funeral as he appeared in public for the first time since the explosive Oprah Winfrey interview.

Almost 24 years ago, Harry and his elder brother Prince William walked alongside their father, uncle and grandfather along the mile towards Windsor Castle behind their mother Diana’s coffin.

Today, the two brothers made the same funeral procession for Prince Philip’s funeral, but this time Prince Philip’s eldest grandchild, Peter Phillips, walked between the brothers all the way to St George’s Chapel.

They also entered St George’s Chapel separately, with Harry walking behind William, who walked behind Prince Charles.

It was the first public reunion between the brothers since the recent interview Harry and his wife Meghan Markle gave to Oprah.

The pair, who have had a difficult relationship in recent years, then sat opposite each other in St George’s Chapel as just 30 family members for the Duke of Edinburgh’s downsized funeral.

While William was joined in a bubble arrangement with his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, Harry sat alone.

Harry was 10 seats away from his grandmother, who also sat alone at the front of the quire, nearest the altar, due to Covid arrangements.

Harry, who was particularly close to his grandfather, rushed back to the UK from the US following Philip’s death, without the Duchess of Sussex, and has been self-isolating at Frogmore Cottage.

Meghan, who is pregnant, did not travel after medical advice.

The couple, who moved to Los Angeles and quit royal duties last year, laid bare their perceptions of the family's attitudes in what amounted to a critique of the old-fashioned customs of an ancient institution.

During the bombshell discussion, he and Meghan accused an unnamed royal of making racist remarks about their son Archie’s skin tone before he was born, and the institution of failing to support Meghan.

Meghan said she had been silenced by "the Firm" while Harry said his father, Charles, had refused to take his calls. Harry said both Charles and his brother William were trapped in the royal family.

In the days after Philip’s death, senior figures such as former prime minister Sir John Major and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, said they hoped the brothers’ shared grief would be an opportunity to ease tensions and reconcile.

Mourners eschewed the tradition of wearing military uniforms, a step newspapers said was to prevent embarrassment to Harry, who despite serving two tours in Afghanistan during his army career, is not entitled to wear a uniform because he was stripped of his honorary military titles.

Prince Andrew, who stepped down from public duties in 2019 over controversy surrounding what he termed his "ill-judged" association with late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, had wanted to wear an admiral's uniform at the funeral, British media reported.

Sitting apart from her children in St George’s Chapel, the Queen cut a solitary figure as she bids farewell to her beloved husband of 73 years.

Although surrounded by her closest family, the monarch was seated in a socially-distanced way in adherence to the rules of the coronavirus pandemic.

PA Media