Prince Harry tried to engage with 'stoic' William at Diana's memorial; but 'distance remains'

Prince Harry and Prince William had an amicable reunion at their mother Princess Diana's memorial last week despite their rift. According to a body language expert, the younger sibling had a larger role in making it possible.

Body language expert Blanca Cobb believes that Harry was making an extra effort to connect with his elder brother at the statue unveiling on July 1, but did not receive the same response from the other side. "When Harry would actually turn his feet to angle towards his brother, his brother didn't respond by turning towards Harry. He (William) was more stoic. He was less engaging with his brother and, in my opinion, Harry was trying to make attempts to engage," she explained to Us Weekly.

Cobb added that Harry's hand movements showed he was more relaxed and comfortable than his only sibling at the heartfelt occasion. "Harry was looking more at William than vice versa. And you could tell also because there were times that Harry would actually walk over to where his brother and somebody else was talking," she pointed out.

Despite the brothers being in a better place at the ceremony than in the last few months, the feud between them is far from over. Omid Scobie, the co-author of "Finding Freedom," a biography on Harry and his wife Meghan Markle's exit from the royal family, said that the brothers shared genuine smiles at the event but they still have a long way to go.

"I can't even imagine how powerful and maybe even overwhelming that moment must have been for them, especially in front of the cameras. I think what was so great about it was that, despite the huge amount of talk about the brothers' relationship leading up to that point, in the moment itself, it didn't really feel like it was about that at all. It sort of went out of the window for the moment," he said on his podcast The HeirPod.

Scobie added that it would have been "impossible" for the brothers to think about their "strained" relationship while "sharing such a special moment." "Those smiles that we saw on their faces were very genuine. I'm sure there was a huge amount of warmth between the brothers in that moment, simply by the act of what they were doing," he said.

However, Scobie noted that it doesn't mean that peace talks were held during the trip to find a permanent solution for their differences. He explained: "That distance with the brothers remains there as Harry heads back to US and William gets on with his life over here, but... the moment we saw the brothers together was like the icebreaker that had not happened for over a year. What we saw was perhaps one tiny step forward, and time is always a healer."