Princes William and Harry attended a rare joint engagement, as they unveiled a statue commemorating their mother Princess Diana’s 60th birthday. While Prince William looked somber, regal and royal, Prince Harry put on a rather bizarre show, manically waving his arms about multiple times, yelling over to Diana’s siblings and puffing his chest out and strutting.

His display came off as arrogant and oddly jovial, for what should have been a somewhat somber event. After all, the brothers are commemorating the milestone birthday of their mother.

In the end, Prince Harry, formerly the most popular member of the royal family, came across as a buffoon.

Over the last year, the once close brothers have had a tense relationship. It started with the fallout from Megxit, Harry and Meghan Markle’s ill-timed interview with Oprah Winfrey filled with wild and damaging allegations, the loss of Prince Philip and more hurtful accusations in other interviews. But for their mother, they tried to put on a united show.

It almost succeeded.

In a joint statement released by both brothers, they said, “Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy.”

They added: “Today, on what would have been our Mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength and character – qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better. Thank you to Ian Rank-Broadley, Pip Morrison and their teams for their outstanding work, to the friends and donors who helped make this happen, and to all those around the world who keep our mother’s memory alive.”

The statue of Diana showed her in a rather casual outfit, using a Christmas card as inspiration, with three children around her. It was lovely, though, like all statues made after the 1700s, didn’t completely capture the charismatic royal.

However, the tension between the two was evident, and it’s Prince Harry who’s drawn the most attention.

Walking down the steps to the small number of awaiting press and his mother’s family, which was all done to avoid the petulant Harry throwing a fit and insisting on his own reporter, he had a rather large grin on his face. 

The Duke of Cambridge’s restrained and regal display was much different. It was as if the two were at separate engagements.

The brothers first greeted their mother’s siblings, which Harry seemed especially enthusiastic about, though the video coverage focused more on William than the now Hollywood producer.

It was after the Princes pulled down the sheet covering the statue that things got rather interesting.

Harry’s wild gesturing continued, including making a digging motion multiple times and getting lost behind William at one point, and then he inexplicably “yelled across the garden with his hand cupped around his mouth and laughed uproariously as he larked around – but William appeared far more serious throughout the short ceremony,” as The Daily Mail reported.

It was strange, bizarre, undignified and made the somewhat somber occasion into a joke.

Perhaps the exiled prince was trying to show the public that he’s still the affable Harry they all knew and once loved, it didn’t work. He came across as arrogant and out-of-touch with the sentiment of the occasion.

While William took on the air of a king-in-waiting, Harry looked like a court jester performing for an awaiting audience. Needless to say, his performance fell flat. 

Picture from JustJared.