Royal family wishes Prince Harry 40th birthday only to 'avoid criticism', expert claims

As Prince Harry turned 40 today, he received surprising birthday wishes from the royal family.

Despite tension with the royal family, early on Sunday, official royal family Instagram handle shared a birthday wish for Harry. Prince William and Kate also followed with a similar public greeting.

However, according to royal expert Tom Bower these posts were simply a matter of public appearances, it show no evidence of reconciliation.

He told MailOnline, "William and Kate's surprise birthday wishes to Harry do not signal a step towards reconciliation. Rather it shows that the Waleses don't want to be criticised as churlish. Being diplomatic costs them nothing and avoids criticism. The King understandably has congratulated his son but there's no evidence of defrosting their relationship."

Bower also highlighted that when Harry attended his uncle's funeral recently, he did not see his father, noting, "nothing has changed." He has refused to "apologise for the awful things he has said and written about his family and his family cannot see why Harry expects them to say sorry."

On the other hand, another royal expert, Richard Fitzwilliams, had a different take.

He suggested that the public messages could be seen as an olive branch.

"What hopefully might subsequently happen are private approaches which we don't hear about and which the Sussexes don't leak to the media. Then, some real progress in repairing relations can be made," he noted.

Notably, the Duke of Sussex is reported to celebrate his birthday with wife Meghan Markle, their kids, and some close friends.