Prince William and Kate Middleton are quietly navigating Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s move back to the U.K.

Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, have relocated their family to the U.K. for an extended period after more than six years in California. Their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, will begin school in Britain this month. The family arrived in the U.K. on Aug. 26, though details about their home and school are being kept private.

While a source recently told PEOPLE that returning home presents Harry with the “best opportunity” to repair the years-long rift with his older brother, another source close to the Prince and Princess of Wales has said that the couple is taking a careful approach.

William and Kate are resisting any “knee-jerk reaction” to the move, a close source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “They are watching this space. It’s private — they don’t feel the need to say anything or demonstrate anything outwardly.”

The source adds that any reconciliation “will be a slow build. There is a deep sense of betrayal.”

Harry and Meghan have remained largely under the radar with Archie and Lilibet since arriving in the U.K. on Aug. 26. So far, their return has brought no public sign of a reunion with the wider royal family.

Prince Harry previously voiced his wishes to restore relationships with his family, telling the BBC in May 2025, “I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore.”

However, with years of hurt feelings between the brothers, it will likely take more than proximity to bring them back together. Harry has made steps towards repairing his relationship with his father, King Charles; he and his family met with the monarch and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House in July, marking the first time in four years that the King had seen Meghan, Archie and Lilibet.

A source told PEOPLE at the time that King Charles “will want to see his sons together over time. This is the best opportunity we have seen in recent years.”

But things have remained at a stalemate between William and Harry, with reportedly no contact in years.

“It’s so broken,” an insider recently told PEOPLE of Harry and William’s relationship.

A source who knows both brothers added, “I thought it would have perhaps eased a little bit by now, to be honest. But there has been no movement, especially on William’s side. There is no contact.”

This week marked the anniversary of the death of Princess Diana on Aug. 31, 1997, and, as in years past, royal experts have reflected on how their mother’s absence has played a role in the rift between William and Harry in the almost 30 years since she’s been gone.

“We all remember the days when Harry and William were joshing with one another, and it all seemed set for their relationship and the future — that Harry, as Diana always used to say, would be William’s wingman,” Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton told PEOPLE last year. “It’s a great loss for the monarchy.”

“Diana always used to say she had two boys for a reason — the younger would be there to support the older in the lonely task as future King,” he added. “There is no doubt Diana would have tried to act as a peacemaker between them. If she had been around, they would have worked things out in a different way.”