Prince Harry’s Queen Elizabeth Mention at the 2023 WellChild Awards, Broken Down by a Body Language Expert
Prince Harry appeared on the verge of “choking up” discussing Queen Elizabeth II at a charity event ahead of the one-year anniversary of his grandmother’s death, according to a body language expert. Ahead, what the Duke of Sussex said about the late monarch and how he seemingly tried to “channel” her “famous stoicism.”
Prince Harry mentioned Queen Elizabeth in a Sept. 7 speech
During a stopover in England on his way to Düsseldorf, Germany, for the Invictus Games, Harry attended the WellChild charity’s annual awards ceremony. A longtime patron, Harry attended the Sept. 7, 2023, event after having skipped it a year earlier as the queen’s health rapidly deteriorated before her death on Sept. 8, 2022.
“As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last as my grandmother passed away,” Harry began as he took the stage. “As you also know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her.”
“And that’s why I know that exactly one year on,” he continued, “she’s looking down on us on all of us tonight, happy we’re together and continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.”
Harry talked about the queen at the WellChild Awards after a ‘telling pause’
Body language expert Judi James examined Harry’s demeanor during his WellChild Awards speech. His “mention of his grandmother came after a telling pause,” James told Fabulous (via The Sun). “Appearing to let out a small sigh of regret, he told the audience he was unable to attend last year ‘as my grandmother passed away.’”
Then “Harry then looked keen to channel some of his grandmother’s famous stoicism and her sense of humour [sic] as he part-smiled” and “affectionately” commented she “‘would have insisted I come instead of going to her’ with “narrowed” eyes and a head tilt to “register” the humor.
As for the second half of Harry’s remarks about the queen, James noted how he sucked in his lips and cleared his throat, suggesting he “might have been choking up over his next words as he told the audience she was ‘looking down on us and happy we’re here together.’”
“The sucking in of his lips was a regular feature of the speech after that, suggesting Harry was quietly still struggling with his emotions,” the body language expert added.
Harry’s ‘cheeky’ behavior wasn’t evident in his WellChild Awards speech
Harry struck a different note with his demeanor as he delivered his speech. According to James, he spoke to the audience “without his usual cheeky humour, apart from a couple of quick glimpses that seemed at odds with his overall emotional displays.”
His body language, she said, signaled a “sense of anxiety about being back in the UK.” For instance, when Harry “finished his speech there was no confident posing or joking.” During applause from the audience, Harry wiped his hands — a “gesture of anxiety” — and “looked down in what appeared to be modesty.”
“This was a complete contrast to the more show-boating Harry on other stage appearances abroad during the past couple of years,” James concluded.
The following day, on Sept. 8, 2023, the one-year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Harry visited his grandmother’s grave at St. George’s Chapel, the same place he and Meghan Markle had their 2018 royal wedding.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
