Body Language Expert Reveals if Protester Rattled King Charles After Monarch Stumbles During Speech
King Charles has embarked on his Australian tour with his wife, Queen Camilla (formerly Camilla Parker Bowles), less than nine months after revealing he was diagnosed with cancer and seeking treatment.
The royal couple received a mostly warm reception and welcome to the country. However, during a reception at Australia’s Parliament House on Oct. 21, Indigenous independent senator Lidia Thorpe yelled at the monarch that he was not her king and Australia was not his land.
The following day, King Charles visited Parramatta Park and delivered a speech in which he stumbled at one part. Some wondered if that had anything to do with the king possibly still being rattled from the senator’s heckling the day before. Here’s more on that and what a body expert noticed from the monarch during the protest.
King Charles stumbled while delivering speech one day after protester heckled him
While the king and queen were at the Premier’s Community Barbeque at the park, Charles gave a four-minute speech and he hit a snag during the remarks.
Express noted that at one point the king was heard saying over the microphone: “Hang on, I picked up two pages of this bloody thing.”
After a moment, he continued with his speech telling the audience: “It is a particular delight to see and smell all the ‘top tucker’ from Western Sydney’s vibrant and diverse community. As we are happily rediscovering today, New South Wales farmers continue to produce truly outstanding food and wine. It is no wonder, I think, that Sydney is world famous for its cuisine, whether it’s smashed avo, a pav, or a Cab Sav and that is what I hope has been on display.”
So did his brief stumble have something to do with what happened the day before?
Body language expert says one thing had nothing to do with the other as king is ‘stoic’
Darren Stanton is a body language and behavioral expert with a degree in psychology. He previously worked as a police officer and used his expertise to uncover the truth when interviewing hundreds of suspects. He later moved into media and TV as a consultant and has been dubbed the “Human Lie Detector.”
According to Stanton, one thing doesn’t have to do with the other because the king was never affected by the protestor in the first place.
Speaking on behalf of Spin Genie, the expert explained: “Charles isn’t fazed at all. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and he’s managed to keep his composure well. He wasn’t perturbed at all. Camilla leans sideways and smiles. They don’t appear to have taken it too seriously, in terms of feeling in danger, there’s none of that.
“Overall, his body language doesn’t change, from sitting down, delivering his speech, and when the heckling did happen, there were no changes in his body language. It was all congruent with him demonstrating genuine joy and happiness at being in Australia and addressing the audience. In terms of fazing the king, I don’t think he was at all. He shows a great deal of resilience just like his mother always did.”
Stanton added: “[Charles and Camilla] are completely still, stoic and composed, both of them. Charles is sitting talking to the people to the left of him while this is going on, and in another angle we see Charles is amused by it — we see him smiling. You can see from a non-verbal point of view, he’s still in the same position as he was before the heckling. Both Charles and Camilla have seen this all before, and something of this nature is not going to perturb them whatsoever, it’s business as usual. The optics of his response paint him as very calm here.”
Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
