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Prince Harry dropped a number of bombshell claims about the royal family in his new memoir Spare and during his various interviews promoting the book. A body language expert pointed out how he appeared to show a “glimpse of empathy” for his brother Prince William, however.

Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and Kate Middleton stand next to each other
Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and Kate Middleton | Paul Grover- WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry shows ‘glimpse of empathy’ for Prince William, expert notes

During an interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 minutes, Harry discussed the “pain between” him and Prince William and recalled how his brother physically attacked him during an argument.

Body language expert Judi James shared her analysis of the interview, telling Express how Prince Harry showed a “glimpse of empathy” for his brother even though he was criticizing the royal family.

“When Harry speaks about William there is a marked return to the state of playful fun and humor that the two boys used to share, although he is keen to illustrate the size of their separation,” she explained.

Prince Harry displayed a “boyish grin” as he talked about his brother, the body language expert pointed out.

“Here he grins widely as he refers to ‘sibling rivalry’ but he also tried to mask or hide that boyish grin by placing his hand up in a cut-off ritual, stroking the sides of his mouth and his top lip,” James said.

“When Harry talks of his brother he often goes into the role and here he acts out a brief dialogue, taking both his own and his brother’s roles,” she continued.

Despite Harry showing compassion, he also uses a hand gesture to illustrate how they were once close. “After this glimpse of empathy though he raises his hands to mesh them before pulling them wide apart to illustrate the size of the gap between the brothers,” James explained.

Prince Harry describes the ‘pain’ in his relationship with Prince William

During the interview, Cooper read an excerpt from Spare where Harry makes what the interviewer calls a “cutting” comment.

“You write about a contentious meeting you had with him in 2021,” Anderson noted. “You said, ‘I looked at Willy, really looked at him maybe for the first time since we were boys. I took it all in, his familiar scowl, which had always been his default in dealings with me, his alarming baldness, more advanced than my own, his famous resemblance to Mummy which was fading with time, with age.’ That’s pretty cutting.”

Prince Harry responded, “I don’t see it as cutting at all.”

He explained why he provides details in the book to give a “full picture” of his relationship with William.

“You know, my brother and I love each other. I love him deeply,” Harry said. “There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years. None of anything I’ve written, anything that I’ve included is ever intended to hurt my family. But it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.”

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Harry discusses his ‘sibling rivalry’ with Prince William

Harry touched on how there was “sibling rivalry” between them and when they attended the same school, William told him, “Pretend we don’t know each other.”

Harry explained, “At the time it hurt. I couldn’t make sense of it. I was like, ‘What do you mean? We’re now at the same school. Like, I haven’t seen you for ages, now we get to hang out together.’ He’s like, ‘No, no, no, when we’re at school we don’t know each other.'”

The Duke of Sussex added, “And I took that personally.”

Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.