Body Language Expert Points out King Charles Easter Service ‘Tension’
TL;DR:
- King Charles III and other royals attended the annual Easter service at St. George’s Chapel on April 9, 2023.
- The king, per a body language expert, looked like he had a “desire to hide away” as he entered the chapel.
- King Charles III’s hands and “steepled” brows suggested “anxiety” and “tension.”
- Other royals, such as Prince William and Kate Middleton, looked “relaxed” at the Easter service.
Holidays can be tense even for members of the British royal family. An expert says “tension was visible” in King Charles III’s body language at the royal family’s Easter service. Ahead, how the soon-to-be-crowned king hinted at “anxiety” and a “desire to hide.”
King Charles looked like he wanted to ‘hide away’ on Easter
On April 9, 2023, the royal family celebrated their first Easter without Queen Elizabeth II. Per tradition, the holiday spanned four days at Windsor Castle, culminating in church and Easter dinner.
Like years past, the royal family walked by crowds and on their way inside St. George’s Chapel. However, the king didn’t appear entirely carefree, according to body language expert Judi James.
“The tension was visible in Charles’s body language as he led the royals to their Easter service for the first time since his mother’s death,” James said (via Mirror).
The indicators, she explained, were the 74-year-old’s “steepled” brows and hand gestures.
“With his brows steepled in the part frown, he shoved one hand into his jacket pocket as though having a desire to hide away,” the expert said. “And then he was wringing and clasping his hands in a gesture of some anxiety as he walked into the chapel.”
Prince William, Kate Middleton, and other royals had a ‘more relaxed, celebratory Easter mood’
While King Charles may have looked tense on Easter, his oldest son and daughter-in-law were among those who seemed “relaxed.”
Prince William and Kate Middleton, who attended Easter service with their three kids — Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4 — smiled as they arrived wearing shades of blue.
James noted the same went for Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, and her husband, Mike Tindall.
“William and Kate and their three children walked behind the Tindalls, with Zara, Mike and their girls setting a more relaxed, celebratory Easter mood that might have been ‘caught’ by the Wales’s,” James said.
Prince Harry claimed King Charles has ‘always’ made a ‘big deal about Easter’ in ‘Spare’
Body language aside, Easter is, per Prince Harry’s Spare memoir, a “big deal” to King Charles. Recalling a “clear the air” meeting he and Meghan Markle had with the Prince and Princess of Wales over tea in June 2018, Harry shared his father made a “big deal” of the holiday.
“Pa always made a big deal about Easter, sure, but that was Pa,” he said after claiming William and Kate “were apparently upset we hadn’t given them Easter presents.”
Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
