Prince William, who turns 41 on Wednesday (June 21), could receive a surprise gift from his estranged younger brother Prince Harry, a former royal butler Grant Harrold has claimed.
The Prince of Wales would surely have a plan to celebrate his big day with his wife Kate Middleton and their children, but a former royal aide believes that he could be surprised by the Duke of Sussex on his auspicious day.
In May, Harry travelled to the UK to attend the crowning ceremony of his father King Charles and stepmother Camilla, but there was no public display of brotherhood or love among the royal siblings.
On behalf of Slingo, Grant, who served for the royal family for seven years, shared his view on a potentially unacknowledged birthday for the future King.
He began: "Do you know what, with families when you fall out you still fix it."
Grant continued: "Hand on heart I still believe that Harry will still reach out to William for his birthday. I think he will reach out to him, definitely, I think they will still reach out to each other on their birthdays. Will there be a card? I think there will still be a card. Will there be a gift? I don't know, it's difficult to say.
"It's an interesting one, isn't it?" Grant pointed out. "I'd like to think for example, when it's Kate [Middleton's] birthday that Harry and Meghan send flowers and vice versa, I'd like to think that kind of thing happens, but who knows?
"For all we know they could be talking and they could be sorting things out. So I'd like to think that they remember each other’s birthdays."
As for royal birthdays in general, they're apparently "very low key". Grant said it's "very rare" that staff get any information about birthdays as they're predominantly celebrated "behind closed doors".
"As far as public celebrations go, the Queen was the one who always had the big birthday celebrations. The King, for his 70th, his 60th, which I was at, he would have a party at Highgrove, those parties and celebrations. The new Queen [Camilla] for her 70th, there was a party again at Highgrove. The royals and celebs all come along to those sort of things. They do have parties when it’s big occasions, when it was the Queen it was more of a national celebration."
"I think that Harry, without Meghan, would be forgiven and welcomed back into the royal fold in the fullness of time. But it is still unlikely at the moment," she conceded.
"If the marriage broke down and he came back, I think there is still enough goodwill towards Harry, well, to the old Harry that we all remember. He could recoup the ground he's lost and in time and be welcomed back. But I don't think it's it's anywhere on the horizon and I don't imagine he would be anywhere near as despised as Prince Andrew is."
Prince William recently opened on his brother's fractured relationship with the family, saying Harry's feud has been given more airtime.