The death of Queen Elizabeth II could help spark a reconciliation between Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family following a reported rift and their move to the United States.

The couple, who were on a rare visit to Britain when the Queen died on Thursday, met with Harry’s brother William and his wife Kate at Windsor Castle on Saturday. It was their first public appearance together since they moved to the United States in early 2020.

All dressed in mourning black, they gazed together at the growing banks of flowers left behind by the audience, before greeting the well-wishers as separated couples and revealing little about the state of their relationships.

But the decision by the quartet – once dubbed “the fabulous four” – to even appear in front of cameras together seemed to be a sign of progress in mending badly broken bonds.

British royal reporters said heir apparent William had proposed the “olive branch” to his younger brother, who has been increasingly critical of the family since stepping down from frontline royal duties.

Just two days earlier, it was a different story, with a tearful-looking Harry, 37, arriving alone in a vehicle at the Balmoral estate, where the Queen had previously died.

William and several other close family members – but not Kate – had previously turned up together in a single car, but were also late to see the Queen before she died.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said Thursday’s separate arrivals showed the brothers were “estranged”.

He argued that Harry and Meghan had “caused a great deal of damage to the royal family in recent months” with their broadsides against the monarchy.

“The ball is up to them going forward and it depends on how they want to play,” added Fitzwilliams.

Everything was so different before.

After the princes’ mother Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, they touched the world by walking behind her coffin at her funeral.

William was 15 while Harry was just 12.

They seemed to share a close bond as adults that didn’t break when William married longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton in 2011 and started a family.

But relations soured following the marriage of former British Army Captain Harry to Meghan – a mixed-race American television actress – in 2018 in Windsor in 2018.

He said in a 2019 interview that he and his brother were “on different paths.” A year later, Harry and Meghan sensationally announced their move to the United States.

During the couple’s subsequent explosive Oprah Winfrey interview in March 2021, Meghan publicly claimed Kate made her cry.

But the most damaging claim was that an unnamed royal had speculated about the skin color of Meghan’s future mixed-race child.

William later responded by telling a journalist the royals are “very little” a racist family.

Relations between the brothers were clearly frosty when they reunited last year to unveil a statue to their mother.

They did not meet during the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations in June.

Recently, Meghan told The Cut magazine in a lengthy interview that she now feels “free” to tell her own story, which some saw as a veiled threat to the monarchy.

Since the Queen’s death, however, there have been tentative signs of a possible softening of the estrangement.

Despite Harry claiming to Winfrey that his brother and father are “trapped” in the monarchy, Charles appeared open to reconciliation with his self-exiled son in his first speech as Britain’s new king, notably expressing “love” for him and Meghan out.

“He’s offering an olive branch, but he’s offering it with great care because he knows they’re unpredictable,” Fitzwilliams said.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are popular with young people but could be taking a big risk if they openly criticize the monarchy, he added, particularly at a time of national mourning and its aftermath.

“There is no doubt that the Sussexes are going to be attracting a lot of attention at the moment,” Fitzwilliams remarked, with British public opinion already firmly siding with the rest of the family.

Saturday’s joint appearance with William and Kate, who became Prince and Princess of Wales this week after Charles’ accession to the throne, could herald a new chapter in family relations.

But with Harry expected to release his likely controversial memoir by the end of the year, things could easily backtrack as well.

“Obviously they will attend the funeral. It’s impossible to say more,” Fitzwilliams said.

“If he’s stopped being critical in Harry’s memoir, that’s different.”