Prince William and Prince Harry unveiled a new statue of their mother, Princess Diana, on Thursday (July 1). The statue is now located in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, where the princes lived with their mother as children. The unveiling ceremony took place on what would've been the late royal's sixtieth birthday.
Despite reports of ongoing friction between William and Harry, the brothers arrived in the Sunken Garden together ahead of the ceremony. They were also photographed smiling and chatting with each other as they walked in. Stewart Pearce, a close friend of Princess Diana's, believes this special occasion will bring them back together again.
“I feel that the vibration of it has detonated the essence of peace,” he told Us Weekly. “By the behaviors that were just so easy, so informal, so humorous between the two of them, I felt that that behavior would actually completely change the way that the vilification has taken place, which is really based on the fear [of] so many people with so many opinions thinking that they’ve actually been talking to individuals within the royal court. Whereas actually, they’ve only just simply been making the whole thing up.”
Pearce also believes reports of a years-long feud between the brothers have been overblown, especially after watching them at the unveiling. “It dispels any of the brouhaha over the fact that there’s a rift,” he said. “I didn’t believe that there was a rift. There was a slight disagreement, but I mean, who doesn’t disagree with his brother? But [it’s] been blown out of complete proportion, it’s been overly dramatized. They both were so relaxed.”
Royal watchers were surprised to learn that William and Harry would be the only members of the Royal Family present at the ceremony. A source close to the Royal Family told the outlet that the other royals, including Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Charles, “wanted to keep it very personal and not have many family members in attendance since that would be a takeaway from the special moment.”
According to Pearce, their decision to step back and let William and Harry shine on their own worked. "Then [it] became this very, very intimate celebration of just the two princes and select members of the Spencer entourage," he explained. "Because it was so intimate...that’s where all the joviality was. They actually have a tremendous amount of fun between the two of them, which was instigated by their mother.”