Thursday 2 June 2022 10:10 PM 'Harry and Meghan were careful to avoid accusations of hogging the limelight at ... trends now

Perhaps it was too much to expect of a couple that prized money and personal freedom above royal traditions of service and duty to suddenly rediscover those noble virtues.

Or perhaps the differences that saw Harry and Meghan choose well-rewarded exile over the humdrum obligations of being working royals were simply unbridgeable.

But if there were to be an opportunity to give the Queen the greatest Platinum Jubilee gift of all – photographic proof of family unity – it was won and lost in the hour or so when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex came face to face with their royal relatives in a viewing point overlooking the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Horse Guards Parade.

Rationing their public appearances to just the odd glimpse, they were certainly careful to avoid accusations of hogging the limelight or of upstaging anyone. Indeed it seemed they were quite content to retreat to the shadows.

When they did edge into sight through the open windows of a VIP viewing area they were seen only with the most junior or most obscure of Royal Family members.

There was a blink-and-you-miss-it encounter with the Queen's elderly cousin, the Duke of Kent, and two delightful moments when Harry and Meghan – both offering a playful shush – knelt down to share a joke with Princess Anne's grandchildren Mia and Lena Tindall and Savannah and Isla Phillips.

Charming as these episodes undoubtedly were, imagine the value of a snapshot of them with the Duchess of Cambridge. Was the absence of it deliberate?

It is impossible to know if such a moment even presented itself. Kate might simply have been too busy keeping tabs on her three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, whose cheerful presence delighted the crowds on their carriage drive with the Duchess of Cornwall. And there were up to 70 people in the room, many of whom would not have exchanged a word with the duchess for more than two years.

More significantly, this was also the first time Kate and Meghan had been together since the Duchess of Sussex accused her sister-in-law in her TV interview with Oprah Winfrey of making her cry over bridesmaids' dresses.

What a message a photograph of the two women chatting side by side would have sent. If they were prepared to project an image of togetherness to the world and let bygones be bygones, then surely critics would have followed suit.

If there is one thing we have learned about Harry and his wife, it is their skill at curating an image through the use of pictures.

Remember that first Christmas card after their wedding? Artfully arranged in black and white, it showed the couple silhouetted against the fireworks that concluded their wedding reception and with their backs to the camera. Us against the world, it roared.

Judging by the pictures which did emerge from the Trooping viewing area – known as the Major General's Office – it would have been entirely natural if a photo of the two royal women together had appeared.

For Harry this must be the hardest of homecomings, because he has been reduced to little more than a spectator. Unable to appear in military uniform like his brother William and uninvited on to the Buckingham Palace balcony, he might have preferred the obscurity of being among the cousins who reside far down the royal line of succession.

On the occasion of the last two Jubilees in 2012 and 2002, the prince had enjoyed favoured status and a prominent

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