Kate Middleton’s Simple Trooping the Colour Gesture Hinted She Didn’t Want to ‘Get Involved’ in Queen Camilla’s ‘Stern-Looking Pep Talk’ With King Charles, Body Language Expert
Kate Middleton didn’t want to be part of Queen Camilla’s “stern-looking pep talk” to King Charles III at Trooping the Colour, an expert says. The Princess of Wales looked at what was going on and, with one simple gesture, decided not to “get involved.” What Kate did at the 2023 Trooping the Colour when King Charles started “complaining” to Queen Camilla.
King Charles appeared to be ‘struggling’ with his horse during the 2023 Trooping the Colour
For his first Trooping the Colour since taking the throne in September 2022, King Charles did things a little differently. He opted to ride horseback after his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, gave up riding in the sovereign’s annual birthday parade in 1986.
However, the king’s horse didn’t seem too eager to join in on the festivities. “Charles frequently needed two hands on the reins,” body language expert Judi James said (via Mirror).
The 74-year-old also had to carry out “a series of pats that increased in intensity as his horse needed steering and correcting.” Meanwhile, Prince William and Prince Edward “sat bolt upright on their very calm horses.”
As a result, King Charles’ first Trooping the Colour as sovereign was “slightly marred by the rather frisky horse” he “seemed to be struggling with,” James said. Overall, it “meant he rarely achieved the same kind of formal mounted pose that his son and siblings achieved.”
Kate ‘turned her head away’ when Queen Camilla gave King Charles a ‘stern-looking pep-talk’ at Trooping the Colour
When King Charles reached Queen Camilla and began “complaining,” his wife launched into what looked like a “pep talk.” However, as James noted, Camilla didn’t give “a smile of pride and support.”
“Her body language suggested she was giving a rather stern-looking pep-talk that involved frowning and some firm-looking head baton nods,” the expert said.
Meanwhile, Kate, who stood nearby, seemingly wanted to stay out of the conversation, according to James. “Kate took one glance at the conversation and turned her head away, clearly not wanting to get involved.”
Kate used subtle ‘signals’ to guide George, Charlotte, and Louis through the Trooping the Colour carriage procession
Also during the annual birthday parade, Kate used “signals” to help her kids navigate the carriage procession. According to James, in between issuing a warning about not looking back, Kate offered “firm but subtle signals” to George, Charlotte, and Louis, who rode in a carriage alongside her and Queen Camilla.
Kate used what James described to Fabulous as a “spreading gesture of both hands” which “would normally mean quite a severe message of when to stop or what not to do.” She also hid her hands from view in the carriage “to mime that ‘stop’ or ‘end’ sign to them as though warning them where the boundaries were.”
That’s not all Kate did. She also gave Louis, George, and Charlotte occasional “small reward nods and smiles for their good behavior.”
Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
