Meneldil's possible attitude
I recall your quote from UT, Zigûr, and agree that the separation of Gondor and Arnor might have begun with Meneldil's attitude, which later hardened into a tradition. I believe that the earlier attitude you quoted was intensified by the disaster of the Gladden Fields, when Isildur and his 3 eldest sons died, his youngest son Valandil being his successor, though a minor.
Isildur was accepted by his nephew as overlord, as High King of the Dúnedain; but I don't believe that Meneldil would have accepted the same relationship from a much younger cousin unable to rule. There is an interesting note that Meneldil was the last Man born in Númenor before the Downfall; so I've no doubt he was made much of in his early years, as a sign of promise for the future. Such a person would not have accepted a younger cousin as overlord. Now, if Isildur had survived, lived to a ripe old age, and had then been succeeded by his eldest son...
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