Prince William and Princess Kate's relationship with Prince Harry remains in tatters behind closed doors despite the birthday message posted from the royal couple's social media account.
The Duke of Sussex celebrated his 40th birthday on Sunday. He received public birthday wishes from King Charles's Royal Family account and Kate and William's account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Royal Family account posted at 8:28am on Sunday morning: "Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!"
The post was accompanied by an image of Prince Harry smiling.
Prince William and Princess Kate's relationship with Prince Harry remains in tatters behind closed doors despite the birthday message posted from the royal couple's social media account.
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Interestingly the image used by the Royal Family originally showed Harry's wife Meghan sitting next to the Duke of Sussex but she has been cropped out of the picture posted alongside the birthday message.
This could be seen as an olive branch to Harry from his father who has shown willingness in the past to reconcile with his youngest son.
Equally, it shows Meghan Markle is not in the monarch's immediate thoughts following her high-profile public swipes at the Firm over the last four years.
Just over two hours after the Royal Family message, a similar one was posted on the Prince and Princess of Wales's account which said: "Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex!".
The Duke of Sussex celebrated his 40th birthday on Sunday.
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However, a key detail shows that the message was not a personal one from Prince William or Princess Catherine.
The couple write the initial of their first name such as W & C at the end of social media posts made by themselves.
The lack of a W or C at the end of the message to Prince Harry indicates it did not come directly from the couple.
However, it is unlikely that they were not consulted before a message was shared on their account by one of their team.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are not on speaking terms with the Duke of Sussex.
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Prince William and Prince Harry did not interact at all when they came face-to-face at their uncle's funeral in Norfolk last month.
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In fact, Prince William and Prince Harry did not interact at all when they came face-to-face at their uncle's funeral in Norfolk last month.
The tension between the brothers was confirmed by several eyewitnesses at the event and immediate reconciliation after the encounter is unlikely to have occurred.
Instead, William and Kate's team may have wanted to follow the example set by the Royal Family's message to Harry or they could have felt it would be too much of a snub not to acknowledge a milestone birthday for the Duke of Sussex.
The birthday messages were the first Harry has received publicly from senior royals since King Charles's reign began and if there is no meaningful change in his relationship with William and Kate in the next 12 months, it would not be a surprise to see his 41st birthday met with silence.
