Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s Body Language Proves They Weren’t Right for Each Other
Princess Diana and Prince Charles didn’t have to tell the world about their relationship problems. Their body language did all the talking for them. Continue reading to learn what body language experts had to say about the couple’s body language at key points in their marriage including their wedding day.
Engagement interview
In an interview with Express, Robin Kermode, a body language expert, analyzed Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s engagement interview.
“It is particularly poignant to revisit the famous engagement interview after 36 years. We shouldn’t forget the scale of the media pressure on these two young people – a pressure that most of us couldn’t possibly handle,” Kermode said.
It’s important to note that at the time of the engagement, then 20-year-old Diana, hadn’t had much, if any, experience with interviews.
“If we look at these clips from a body language perspective, we must be aware of the historic lens we watch it through,” Kermode added. “The manner and style of the interviewer’s questions, and of their responses, seem almost from another world.”
Kermode explained that a lot can be said about a person when they are not speaking.
“As our facial muscles are busier when we’re speaking, we can put on a ‘mask’ or a ‘front’ quite easily, but having to listen to comments about ourselves when we are trying to be still will reveal lots of little signals,” Kermode said.
“Some of the clips appear to show a contrast between Charles and Diana. Charles looks assured while Diana often looks sadder when she is listening – her lips and mouth are held together, here eyebrows lifted and her cheeks pushed forward with watery eyes,” Kermode added.
Kermode observed that Charles often deferred to Diana during the course of the interview, looking at her before he answered a question. This happened when Charles made his famous “Whatever in love means” comment.
“I think one of the most interesting phrases from Charles was the use of the word ‘business’ when asked about their courtship,” Kermode said. “He then spends several moments looking down avoiding the camera. His lip corner pull inwards and then his mouth is pulled tight and upwards suggesting sadness. We know that big decisions, like red, trigger emotions and sadness and joy can often be mixed together.”
Diana ‘looks close to tears’ on wedding day
Author and body language expert, Judi James, analyzed the couple’s body language on their wedding day.
“On her first few steps into the cathedral Diana’s veiled face is wearing the traditional bridal expression of a radiant smile,” James said. “Then her large eyes start to scan the scene inside the cathedral and her face does a sudden and very dramatic drop. Her mouth slopes downward and her eyes fall and for a moment she looks close to tears.”
“When she lifts her eyes there is even a moment of steeliness bordering on anger. It’s not until her dress designer comes to flounce the veil that she manages a girlish but slightly forced-looking smile in response.”
She also noted that Diana’s expression rapidly changed throughout the course of the ceremony.
“This constant flicking of extremes of expressions could be seen as just a sign of nerves but there is very little looking at her father for reassurance or the more signature ‘Shy Di’ expressions she was known for.”
Diana looked for Camilla at wedding
According to Express, at a later time Diana said she looked for Camilla Parker-Bowles — Charles’ and Camilla had an affair and eventually married in 2005 — while entering the church on her wedding day.
“I knew she was in there, of course. I looked for her,” Diana told royal biographer Andrew Morton in 1991, according to Good Housekeeping. “So walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale gray, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all, her son Tom standing on a chair. To this day you know — vivid memory.”
James’ analysis of Diana’s body language confirmed her story. “Her eyes scour the guests on the way up the aisle and although there are reflected smiles for some there are also signals of anxiety and fluctuating emotions that would endorse her claim that she was actually looking for love-rival Camilla,” James said.
Charles’ body language at wedding
“Charles adopted an air of faint sadness as he waited for his bride, with his brows steepled and his eye-gaze distant and reflective,” James said. “You could see this as an expression of duty and formality but the camera shows the Queen absolutely beaming at her son so there was no great pressure on him to look poker-faced.”
“He flashes the ghost of a smile when his bride arrives and then a swift look up and down at her dress with no sign of appreciative or reassuring smiling,” she added.
While there certainly were telling signs in their body language, Princess Diana and Prince Charles did have some moments of positive body language, like when they left their wedding rehearsal holding hands. Other times they were seen kissing or sharing beaming smiles.
