Prince Harry raised eyebrows by attending the star-studded Super Bowl in California with royal cousin Princess Eugenie.
Eugenie appears to be the first royal to visit him in the US since he and wife Meghan Markle moved there with their children after quitting the Firm two years ago.
The royal pair were pictured together in the stands - although were without Meghan and Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank.
Harry and Meghan are known to have an icy relationship with many of the royals after their decision to step down from the Firm in 2020.
They also spoke out against them in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last year where they alleged that there had been conversations about how dark son Archie's skin would be.
And according to royal expert and biographer Duncan Larcombe, by Eugenie publicly supporting Harry at the Super Bowl, she is "breaking ranks" from the rest of the royals.
He told OK! : "The royals have stayed quite consistent and firm when it comes to Harry and Meghan, as we’ve seen. The Queen has continued to effectively punish Harry for walking away by stripping him of his titles.
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“Eugenie is breaking ranks from the rest of the royals by being seen so publicly to endorse Harry and Meghan in their new life. It endorses what they said about the royals. No other member of the family would be seen dead anywhere near Harry and Meghan.
“There are those that think that Eugenie is Harry’s only hope of him being brought back in should things not work out in paradise, so at least he is talking to someone in the Royal Family. By seeing Eugenie there, it looks like the only link he still has with his family.”
Not only is Eugenie, mum to son August, the only royal to have met up with Harry in California, she could also be the only member of the family to have met his new baby daughter Lilibet.
Lilibet was born in June in California and has yet to meet her great-grandmother the Queen, her grandfather Prince Charles or uncle Prince William as she has not yet visited the UK.
According to royal expert and biographer Robert Jobson, Harry and Eugenie have always been close - and Eugenie refuses to "abandon" her cousin.
He said: "Ever since they were children messing around on the slopes of Klosters, Switzerland, they struck up a loving empathy.
"Now Harry is married and settled in the US and his relationship with his father, Charles, and brother, William, is fractured, Eugenie - who is close to the Queen - is one of his only connections to the royal family. She refuses to abandon him."
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