How did Harry and Meghan get together with Prince William and Kate after Queen Elizabeth's death?

Queen Elizabeth II's death has brought the British Royal family back into the spotlight. With family comes drama. On September 10, Britain was left in awe when they saw that heir to the throne Prince William, and his wife Kate, Princess of Wales, were not the only ones to emerge out of their car outside Windsor Castle to greet the public gathered to mourn their grandmother, the Queen. 

In tow were Prince William's brother Harry and his wife Meghan Markle. 

Why was this scene so poignant? Because, it was not part of the plan, and also because the two brothers are rumoured to be in a 'feud'. 

The Royal couples haven't been seen together in public for over two years now amid rumours, some confirmed, of a feud between the brothers that started in 2018 and still hasn't come to an end.

The last time the couples were seen together in public was on Commonwealth Day on March 9, 2020.

How did the couples decide to take a walkabout together? According to reports citing several sources, Prince William was the one to extend the "olive branch" to the Sussexes. Apparently, Prince William asked Prince Harry and his wife to join them at Windsor at 11th hour. Earlier, only Prince William and Princess Kate were scheduled to take a walkabout.

"The Prince of Wales invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to join him and the Princess of Wales earlier. The Prince of Wales thought it was an important show of unity for the Queen at an incredibly difficult time for the family," DailyMail quoted a senior Buckingham Palace source. 

Prince William reportedly extended the invite after discussing with his father King Charles III. It also took a 45-minute "negotiation" between the two camps to go out together on the walkabout. This delayed the scheduled walkabout by 45 minutes. 

There are no details about what the negotiation was all about. 

Context: On September 8, 2022, when members of the Royal family were asked to reach Balmoral Castle in Scotland immediately over the Queen's deteriorating health, reports said that King Charles III made a phone call to his son, Prince Harry, telling him not to bring his wife Meghan Markle to the gathering. 

King Charles III, then Prince Charles, reportedly told Prince Harry that Meghan Markle would certainly not be welcomed at the gathering given that it was only a few close family members attending, and that even Prince William's wife Kate was not part of it. 

The Royal feud: According to several reports and through confessions by the involved parties themselves in interviews, Prince William and Prince Harry's relationship has soured over the years since 2018. Reportedly, it started with Prince William's "opinion" of his younger brother's fast-moving relationship with Meghan Markle back in 2018, which Prince Harry did not take well. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's famous exit from Royal duties and moving to the US also made the tensions soar. 

Since then, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have given bombshell after bombshell interviews, famously to Oprah Winfrey and the more recent to The Cut. In the interviews, it has been insinuated if not clearly mentioned that there were issues of racism within the Firm, the nickname given to the British Royal family, given that Meghan Markle has a mixed-race identity. 

Though tabloids have more than once talked about the "feud" between Kate and Meghan, there doesn't seem to be much ground to it. 

Even recently, as Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex were in the UK on a "pseudo Royal" tour, staying just a few hundred yards away from Prince William and Kate's Adelaide cottage, the couples did not visit each other. 

Nonetheless, the two Royal couples spent nearly an hour looking at all the tributes, flowers, and wishes that poured in from the public at Windsor Castle after Queen Elizabeth II's death, and then another hour interacting with the public. 

This reunion is expected to thaw the ice between the two brothers. However, the verdict is still out on whether the Sussexes will be seen in the UK more often.