Prince Harry Displays ‘Stressed’ Body Language During Meghan Markle Engagement Interview, Expert Says
A body language expert looked closely at the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement interview and spotted some moments where Harry appeared “stressed.” Harry also glanced at Meghan to make sure she was on the same page as him, the expert said.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sat down for an engagement interview
In 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan sat down for a BBC interview following their engagement. A clip from the interview was included in their Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan.
The interviewer asked, “Do you have that sense that the combination of the two of you — your different backgrounds — that you represent something new for the royal family?”
Harry responded, in part, “No, we’re a fantastic team. We know we are. And, we hope to, over time, try and have as much impact for all the things that we care about as much as possible.”
Meghan added, “I am very excited about that, yeah.”
Body language expert notes signs Harry was ‘stressed’ during the interview
In a YouTube video for The Behavioral Arts channel, body language expert Spidey gave his analysis of Harry and Meghan in the clip. The expert looked at Harry’s “distinct” body language expressions before the interviewer even finished asking the question.
Harry looked into the distance while performing lip compression, a gesture which Spidey noted “is consistent with either disagreement or withheld opinion.”
The body language expert said that Harry was definitely “selecting his words” carefully and was “thinning out his lips, as though to say, ‘No, don’t say that.’”
He continued, “I think there’s almost something he wants to say but he’s holding it back and trying to formulate the right answer.”
The expert said Harry continued to display gestures that showed careful word selection. The Duke of Sussex started to answer with “Um,” which Spidey called an “audible hesitation” that allows someone to get “an extra second” to “collect our thoughts.”
Spidey also pointed out that Harry performed a quick lip lick, noting it “is a very common indicator of stress … we see this behavior a lot more in stressed individuals.”
Harry stuttered a bit before answering as well. “This is very common for Prince Harry when he’s hesitating or thinking of the right words,” Spidey said. By comparison, “in moments of confidence, he’ll pause and he’ll speak slowly, but when he’s feeling that stress we commonly hear this stammering in his speech,” the expert noted.
Spidey called the next thing out of Harry’s mouth “pretty significant” as he gave a “non-answer statement.” The interviewer asked “do you represent something new?” and Harry said “No,” followed by “more time focused on them as a couple being a fantastic team,” Spidey noted. “So it’s little bit of self-reassurance there and then he talks about the impact that they want to make but he doesn’t really address the question.”
Expert says Prince Harry didn’t want to ‘get controversial’ during the interview
Spidey concluded his analysis by looking at the way Harry gave “confirmation glances” to Meghan while answering the question.
According to Spidey, confirmation glances “are quick bursts” for a person “to check and see if you’re buying their story” but with two people being interviewed, it’s a “whole new meaning.”
He pointed out the eye contact and glance is a way “to make sure that their story is together” in order to “present the same narrative.”
In the Harry and Meghan interview, Spidey said Harry wants to avoid giving an answer that was controversial. So he gave a non-answer and steered away from the topic.
“So that’s why we’re seeing the hesitation, we’re seeing the lip licking — he’s stressed about this,” Spidey said. “We’re seeing that stammering and then he’s changing the subject entirely. And throughout, he keeps checking in with [Meghan] to make sure, ‘OK, we’re on the same page, please stick with me on this. I don’t want this to get controversial.’”
Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
