Prince Harry appearing to well up at Prince William and Princess Kate's royal wedding went viral on TikTok.
The Duke of Sussex appeared overcome with emotion as he watched his brother tie the knot with his soon to be sister-in-law in April 2011.
The prince's tearful reaction resurfaced on social media in a video that compared it to another emotionally intense moment, as Harry married Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018.
The clip, which was liked 112k times and viewed 1.6 million times, finished with a montage of Harry and Kate's moments from his time as a working royal.
Prince Harry described William and Kate's Westminster Abbey wedding in his book Spare, writing: "I don't recall walking out to the altar. I have no memory of the readings, or removing the ring, or handing it to my brother. The ceremony is mostly a blank in my mind.
"I recall Kate walking down the aisle, looking incredible, and I recall Willy walking her back up the aisle, and as they disappeared through the door, into the carriage that would convey them to Buckingham Palace, into the eternal partnership they'd pledged, I recall thinking: Goodbye."
Harry described feeling like he'd lost his brother, though he spoke only fondly of his feelings about Kate at the time.
"I loved my new sister-in-law," he wrote, "I felt she was more sister than in-law, the sister I'd never had and always wanted, and I was pleased that she'd forever be standing by Willy's side. She was a good match for my older brother.
"They made each other visibly happy, and therefore I was happy too. But in my gut I couldn't help feeling that this was yet another farewell under this horrid roof.
Another sundering.
"The brother I'd escorted into Westminster Abbey that morning was gone—forever. Who could deny it? He'd never again be first and foremost Willy. We'd never again ride together across the Lesotho countryside with capes blowing behind us.
"We'd never again share a horsey-smelling cottage while learning to fly. Who shall separate us? Life, that's who."
And he went on to describe the moment King Charles III walked Meghan down the aisle at their own wedding seven years later.
"As Meg came nearer and nearer, I was giving thanks for all my choices," he wrote. "Amazing that I could even hear the music over the sound of my own heartbeat as Meg stepped up, took my hand.
"The present dissolved, the past came rushing back. Our first tentative messages on Instagram. Our first meeting at Soho House.
"Our first trip to Botswana. Our first excited exchanges after my phone went into
the river. Our first roast chicken. Our first flights back and forth across the Atlantic.
"The first time I told her: I love you. Hearing her say it back. Guy in splints. Steve the grumpy swan. The brutal fight to keep her safe from the press. And now here we were, the finishing line. The starting line."
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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