It’s no secret that the British royal family has its fair share of drama. Watch just a few minutes of The Crown and it’s clear that family tension is as much a royal tradition as tea and corgis. But while royal rumors are constant, it’s rare to hear an actual family member hint at them in public.

That’s what made Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix revelations — and Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare — so explosive. And now, it seems Prince William might have just made a rare nod to that ongoing family tension himself.

On June 4, the Prince of Wales visited the Army Air Corps in Wattisham, Suffolk, in his official role as Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment. Normally, the engagement would have been a routine royal duty — except for one key detail: the title of Colonel-in-Chief was widely expected to go to Prince Harry before he stepped back from royal life and moved to California in 2020.

Harry trained with the Army Air Corps back in 2009, so the fact that William now leads his brother’s former regiment adds an unmistakably awkward layer to the whole situation. Especially since, by most accounts, the brothers barely speak these days.

A Subtle Comment with Big Implications

During his visit, William chatted casually with soldiers about their workloads. According to the Daily Mail, he asked, “Is the pace of life good at the moment?” to which one soldier replied that it was “a mixed bag.”

William laughed and responded, “Families okay? See you enough? Some of them might not want to see you that much. It’s a mixed bag sometimes.”

The comment could easily have been a light-hearted joke — but given the context, it sounded like a subtle nod to his own family situation. After all, this is a man whose younger brother was reportedly so eager to “not see him” that he moved halfway across the world.

The princes were last believed to be in the same place during their uncle Robert Fellowes’ memorial service in England in August 2024, but even then, reports suggested they didn’t interact. For now, at least, a real reunion between the brothers still seems far off.