Prince George’s 11th Birthday Portrait Hides a First in Plain Sight With Pose: Body Language Expert
Prince George’s birthday is here, and that means a new portrait to mark the occasion. Prince William and Kate Middleton released a new photo of their oldest child—taken by the latter—for his birthday on July 22, 2024. In it, according to a body language expert, is a first as far as birthday portraits go for George. Ahead, how his pose showed he’s “growing into a more confident young man.”
George takes ‘ownership’ with his 11th birthday portrait
In the black-and-white photo of George posted to the Prince and Princess of Wales’s official Instagram, the 11-year-old can be seen smiling for the camera wearing a suit (and no tie).
Taken by Kate this year, the image shows, as body language expert Judi James told The Sun, that “George has had some fast-track growing up to do.” (Kate is undergoing preventative chemotherapy after a March 2024 cancer diagnosis announcement.)
Examining his pose, she noted that George appeared relaxed and confident without any signs of having to laugh or smile for the photo—a first.
“Like his father, George has always shown signals of shyness. But this pose very emphatically informs us that he is now growing into a more confident young man,” she said. “His shoulders and his posture signal an assured sense of relaxation here.”
“Even his hands seem to hang in his lap with no signs of tension. Nobody has needed to make him laugh or grin for this pose, which he seems to have taken ownership over for the first time.”
Similar to George’s 10th birthday portrait in 2023, gone are the “childhood” elements. “This is not a childhood pose, running in the garden or playing on holiday,” James added. “It hints at an increasingly more responsible, sensible, and thoughtful side emerging in his personality.”
He’s ‘asserting his own individual personality’ with a smile not ‘copied’ from Prince William and Kate Middleton
In addition to George’s pose, his “asymmetric smile” in the birthday portrait proved to be another indicator of his personality.
“This smile seems to show that George is asserting his own individual personality now, as it is not a mimicked or mirrored smile that he has copied from his parents,” James said. “William’s smile always involves a lot of puckering and suppressions around the mouth, and Kate’s smile is nearly always symmetric.”
However, that doesn’t mean George didn’t use what he’s learned from his parents at all in his birthday portrait. “George’s body language still shows strong mirroring rituals of his dad,” the expert said. “But this more individual smile style suggests he also has his own friends or mentors ‘outside’ the close family team.”
His “firm” eye-smile “hints at some growing firmness or assessing traits that would nod back to his grandad and great-grandmother,” King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II. “It’s a very affectionate eye-smile. But not the rounded, widened expression of childhood.”
George’s ‘glance’ at the camera also hints at ‘making choices’
James continued, saying how George’s “sideways and upward glance” at the camera also pointed to him taking ownership.
“George is no longer staring straight into the camera,” she said. “His pose suggests he has been ‘caught’ relaxing or looking away, with his attention drawn to the lens. It suggests he has more ownership of the pose, which again hints at that growing sense of confidence and making choices.”
The latest photo from the Wales family marks the end of a steady stream of birthday portraits. William and Kate released a photo for Prince Louis’ birthday on April 23, 2024, followed closely by Princess Charlotte’s on May 2, 2024, and William’s on June 21, 2024.
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