An allegedly frosty Easter, I should say. Per tradition, members of the British Royal Family convened at Windsor to attend an Easter service with the Queen. As such, the family tends to stay at Windsor Castle, walk to church as a group, line up for the Queen to arrive via car, attend the service, and then depart as a group to walk back to the Castle.
And also per tradition, the family is photographed while they are outside with people tending to enjoy watching them interact while they wait for the Queen.
Last year, the big kerfuffle is that William and (a very pregnant) Kate were late to the service and arrived after the Queen. Quite the faux-pas. And just weeks before their wedding, Harry and Meghan weren’t actually there.
This year, the drama is the perceived coldness between William and Harry. In reality, there simply wasn’t any substantial interaction, so do with that what you will. Harry walked to the church with his cousin, Peter Phillips, and his wife, Autumn. William and Kate, meanwhile, walked at the head of a second contingent of the family not far behind.
Once they got to the church, Harry stood a bit apart from William and Kate, and despite relatively close proximity there was no direct engagement between the brothers. At one point Harry leaned over and said something to Kate that made her laugh, she turned to William, and he gave a half-hearted smile in response. All of this happens within seconds, so it’s not entirely useful to pick it apart too much.
And frankly, I normally wouldn’t, save that what is interesting about this particular day is that the brothers are doing very little to quash rumors of their reported feud. If it wasn’t true, why wouldn’t they go out of their way to appear chummy? Even if it was true, why wouldn’t two men who despise scrutiny of their personal lives not make an obligatory show of friendliness to stop the reports?
Which leaves us with they are either willfully ignoring these rumors, or things are so bad they can’t even bring themselves to fake it for a few minutes in front of photographers.
Also worth noting is that Kate and William(!) waved to photographers on their way out of the church, which is definitely off-brand for those two, but something we’re starting to see more of in a post-Meghan world.
Anywho, in addition to the Queen and the three musketeers, the Princess Royal and the Duke of York were present, as was Timothy Laurence, Princess Beatrice, the Phillipses, Mike and Zara Tindall, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex, as well as their children, Louise and James.
Kate wore a pale lilac coat by Alexander McQueen that actually made its debut on an Easter of yore (in 2014 during the Oz/NZ tour). She paired it with the same Jane Taylor topper that she did the first time, which worked for me – I liked this look then, and I like it today.
As for Meghan, presumably she was at Frogmore Cottage, or holed up in Windsor Castle. She has stayed out of public view since Commonwealth Day, which marked her last engagement before maternity leave. The wait continues…
If you would also like to over-analyze fleeting moments of another family’s holiday interaction, then please see the below video. The first few seconds are a tad blurry, but it kicks into gear after that and you can see the arrivals and departures.