Was Prince Harry Fighting Back Tears After This Public Snub?

Prince Harry is one member of the royal family who is not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. After all, he did get very candid about some of the troubles he faced behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace in his and Meghan Markle's jaw-dropping interview with Oprah Winfrey. If that weren't enough, he also opened up about his childhood trauma in the Apple+ series, "The Me You Can't See." In the mental health docuseries, he admitted that he wasn't in a good place emotionally during his mid-twenties. "Every time I put a suit on and tie on ... having to do the role, and go, 'right, game face', look in the mirror and say, 'let's go'. Before I even left the house I was pouring with sweat. I was in fight or flight mode," Harry said, per the Evening Standard.

However, there was one time where Harry must have really felt triggered into "fight or flight mode" again during a royal engagement with his wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family. In fact, the snub that he felt from the other members of his family supposedly almost left him in tears. Here's what happened.

According to royal expert Robert Lacey, in his book, "Battle of Brothers," Prince Harry may have been fighting back tears the last time that he, Meghan Markle, Prince William, and Kate Middleton were all in the same room together. That was during the Commonwealth Day Service in London, which also happened to be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's last official engagement as full-time working royals. 

Because Harry and Meghan had already announced their desire to "Megxit," this made things rather awkward between them and William and Kate, who both allegedly failed to acknowledge them at Westminster Abbey. Even though William and Kate sat right in front of them, Kate didn't even look in Harry and Meghan's direction, the expert determined — and things seemed tense with William and Harry as well.

Lacey writes in his book (per Express), "Observers also noted that Harry's face was 'quite tense and unsmiling' — and that when William sat down close to him, he barely greeted his brother. ... Meghan megawatted away with her best TV smile but, as the ceremony progressed, Harry appeared to grow gloomier. According to one observer, 'his accelerated blinking even suggested he might have been fighting back tears.'" Whether or not Harry was truly on the brink of tears no one really knows — but it seemed to confirm the Sussexes' decision that royal life was not for them.

Since the start of William and Harry's rift, the brothers have tried to work things out. But as of September, there is still "distance" between them, royal author Omid Scobie told Entertainment Tonight.