The former press secretary for both Prince William and Prince Harry has spoken of the 'deep rift' between the pair. Ed Perkins appeared on Good Morning Britain alongside Ed Balls to chat to Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard ahead of the Queen's state funeral later this morning.
Ed was the assistant editor of the ITN Evening News and had worked as news producer for the BBC and a business and economics producer for ITV before being appointed assistant press secretary to the late Queen in 2007, a role he held for five years. He then became communications secretary to the now Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke of Sussex.
Ben asked Mr Perkins about the brothers, commenting: "It has been really heartening for us to seem them walking together, seeing them in Windsor looking at flowers and meeting some members of the public with their wives.
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"Does it feel, from your perspective, the fact they've lost their grandmother is something that can start to heel that rift?" Ed replied: "You'd hope so wouldn't you? I was there in 2012 to 2014 so they were then the 'Fab Three' and for a brief period 'The Fab Four' and when we saw them together when they worked together as a three and then a four, they were just invincible."
Mr Balls chipped in to mention how mental health was a huge part of their charity work together before Mr Perkins continued: "It was just utterly brilliant. On the big stuff and the small stuff they were just utterly great and you can't help but feel when you see them together they are a very strong force.
"They'll do brilliantly on their own, of course they will, but they're also fantastic together. But that's a deep rift and I don't know... we'll have to see."
"Everybody's so hopeful aren't they?" Susanna commented. "No one wants to see a divide." Mr Perkins added: "Of course and it's moments like this that as the family comes together, the brothers come together and you would just hope there is something at the end of it."
Susanna, who queued for several hours last week to see the Queen lie in state in Westminster Hall alongside her 81-year-old mother, then spoke about the renewed interest in the Netflix series The Crown following Queen Elizabeth II's death. She then asked Mr Perkins i f the Queen ever viewed the series.
"She watched Coronation Street, she had a lot of box sets and I know Prince Harry said he watched it but whether she watched it herself..." he replied before Mr Balls interjected: "Of course she did," to which Mr Perkins gave a wry smile and nodded, hinting she may have given the hugely popular series a watch.
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