Conditional Verb Forms

Question

Today the NewsWeek online magazine posted this line about King Charles III:

"King Charles III Gets the Hero's Welcome Critics Feared Might Never Come"

Could the phrase use the verb "would" instead of "might" and still carry the same meaning?

Answer 1

"Critics feared would never come" means critics feared it was highly unlikely to come;

whereas,

"Critics feared might never come" means critics feared it was very or strongly unlikely, or even strongly improbable, but not as highly unlikely.

Close in meaning though. Highly very close, Almost hairsplitting to distinguish them