Body Language Expert Says Photos of Prince Harry, Meghan, Prince William, and Kate Over the Years Show There Was Always a Rift
Most royal fans still remember when Prince William, the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton), Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle would appear at events together looking happy and sharing laughs with each other. But those days are gone.
Over the years, many royal watchers have tried to pinpoint exactly where things took a turn for the “Fab Four.” Now, a body language expert has weighed in after examining photos that appear to show there was tension all along and a rift brewing much earlier than we all thought.
2018
Maybe we were so caught up in the fairytale-like wedding of Harry and Meghan, or the excitement that William, Kate, and the Sussexes teaming brought to the royal family, or just lack of the trained eye because many of us missed any signs of tension back in 2018. But body language expert Judi James noticed that some of their behavior then showed that things between them weren’t ever great.
James spoke to The Sun’s Fabulous about one instance at the Armistice centenary where she saw just how frosty things were.
“The couples did line up in close proximity that might have suggested the ‘Fab Four’ were still on track but, again, the smiles on both Kate and Meghan’s faces look rigid enough to suggest tension, and Kate’s smile barely reaches her eyes,” James observed. “It’s the tension between the brothers that is beginning to show here though. Their poses might be mirrored but they are self-protective fig leaf’ hand poses.”
2019
Things didn’t improve in 2019, according to James.
She pointed out how at Commonwealth Day in 2019 Meghan seemed to be the “one happy to draw on her skills as an actress to perform a very convincing and fun-fueled-looking smile.”
As for the others, James added: “Kate’s facial expression here makes her almost unrecognizable. The social smile is gone and her mouth is pulled down at the corners instead. Her brows are raised and her eye expression looks intense and unhappy. And things weren’t much better for the brothers. Harry started to acquire the haunted eye expression that became stronger the closer the couple came to leaving the U.K. for good. He appears to be biting his inner lip here in a small self-attack and whereas the brothers always used subtle tie-signs to raise each other’s spirits in public, there is no sign of any warmth or playful connection here whatsoever.”
2020
The Sussexes announced in 2020 that they were stepping down as senior royals and moving to America and at their last royal engagement in the U.K. the tension between the brothers and their wives was on full display.
William and Kate arrived at Westminster Abbey for the Commonwealth Day service after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were already seated. Before sitting down William tried to make things at least look civil by exchanging brief pleasantries with Harry and Meghan. Kate, however, did not follow suit or even make eye contact with the Sussexes.
As James noted: “The last official appearance of the ‘Fab Four’ openly showed a very emphatic erosion of any kind of warmth, closeness, or even ease in each other’s company. “
And when looking closely at their facial expressions that day James said: “They were to the point of openly avoiding or blanking each other and only Meghan seemed to be keen to apply the social smile that we can see here. Harry’s grim facial expression was reflecting the resentment and anger that we were to see emerge verbally in the Oprah interview, while William’s sucked-in lips suggested misery and regret. Kate’s facial expression had taken on a look of firmness here, with a lip clamp and a rather stern eye expression.”
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