Real and imaginary parts of a symmetric unitary matrix ($U=A+iB,AB=BA,A^2+B^2=I$)

Suppose a unitary matrix $U$ is symmetric under ordinary transpose, and write its entrywise real and imaginary parts as $A$ and $B$. They are real symmetric matrices. Expanding $U^{†}U=I$ gives $A^2+B^2+i(AB-BA)=I$, proving the displayed identities. Commuting real symmetric matrices admit simultaneous diagonalization: diagonalize $A$, then diagonalize the restriction of $B$ to each invariant eigenspace of $A$. A common real orthonormal eigenbasis givesIf $A$ has simple eigenvalues, every eigenvector of $A$ is already an eigenvector of $B$, because its one-dimensional eigenspace is invariant. The eigenvalues of $A$ and $B$ are paired as the real and imaginary parts of the same eigenvalue of $U$.