Instead, the occasion that marked their final event together as senior royals was tinged with hostility and regret, and will inevitably go down in history as a bitter end to an immensely hard period for the royal family.
The foursome hadn’t been seen together since attending Remembrance Day events in November last year, and the tension between them this time around was obvious to all.
Speaking with New Idea, royal commentator Phil Dampier said, “It’s going to be very strange if they are the final images we have of the fab four together for a very long time.”
Relations looked frosty and you can tell from the body language that all is not well. It’s going to be a very significant and sad occasion to look back on. The Queen must be devastated. Everyone had high hopes and it’s all gone out the window.”
Harry and Meghan were the first to arrive at Westminster, taking their seats in the second row next to Harry’s uncle, Prince Edward, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived, the couples greeted one another more like distant acquaintances than immediate family.
Mouthing “hello” to one another, with Meghan giving a small wave, Kate and William sat down, later engaging in conversation with Sophie, while Harry and Meghan chatted enthusiastically with Edward. Until the Queen’s procession arrived, the couples avoided speaking or even making eye contact.
“Meghan was putting on a brave face and deliberately smiling – an act for the cameras,” Dampier says. “But you could tell that there was a definite rift and iciness between them, which is very sad – between brothers who were so close at one point and helped each other through difficult times.”
There was also drama in the lead up to the event, with Harry and Meghan disallowed from joining the Queen’s procession into the church, due to their altered royal status. At the last minute, seemingly in a gesture of solidarity, William and Kate opted to not take part in the march either.
“William wanted to calm Harry down, because he could see that he was seething about it,” Dampier says. “I don’t think he necessarily decided to do it because he agrees with what his brother’s done, or that he sympathizes with him, he probably did it purely for practical reasons to avoid Harry making the situation much worse.”
Going forward, it’s hard to predict if the couples will ever truly make amends, or recover the closeness they once had.
“It’s only getting worse between them, and now that they’re going to start their new life living on the other side of the Atlantic, I don’t anticipate seeing Harry and Meghan back in the UK for a long time,” Dampier says.
“One hopes that they make up in some shape or form but I don’t see it happening in the near future. This could be a massive turning point where reality sets in, where we realise it’s really the end of Harry and Meghan’s royal career. And whatever they do now, things will never really be quite the same,” he said.