Prince Harry’s Body Language Was ‘Regretful and Tense’ While Telling Americans To Vote, Expert Says
Now that they are no longer senior working members of the British royal family, Prince Harry, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex aren’t holding anything back. With their new Netflix deal and their independent platform, they’ve been using their voices as they see fit.
From speaking out against hate speech, speaking out for women, and even getting slightly political, all of this would have been unthinkable for the Sussexes just one year ago.
However, because the prince’s activism is political for the first time in his life, one body language expert says he seems more than a bit unsure of himself.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been urging Americans to vote
Up until recently, Prince Harry has never publically gotten political. Though a leaked phone call heard him saying President Trump has blood on his hands in terms of climate change, the royals remain neutral when it comes to politics.
Though she could not speak out as a working royal, Meghan has always been political. She spoke against Trump prior to marrying Prince Harry. Recently, she expressed her excitement over Senator Kamala Harris’ nomination for Vice President. Now it looks like the prince is also done being silent. During TIME magazine’s TIME100 special the Duke of Sussex said,
This election, I’m not going to be able to vote here in the U.S. But many of you may not know that I haven’t been able to vote in the U.K. my entire life. As we approach this November, it’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation, and online negativity.
The British royal family is not happy with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s activism
The royal family was stunned that Prince Harry spoke so openly about voting. Royal reporter Rebecca English shared Buckingham Palace’s response on Twitter. “They are not commenting on this,” she wrote. “The Duke is not a working member of the Royal Family and any comments he makes are made in a personal capacity.” However, it appears that the royals are now in talks about what to do from here. Stripping the Sussexes HRH titles from them still appears to be the last resort.
A palace aide told The Times of London,
The [royal] family are all wringing their hands, thinking: where is this going and does this abide by the deal to uphold the values of the Queen? The feeling is it’s a violation of the agreement. There is a strong view that the family really does need to put more distance between them and Harry and Meghan.
Prince Harry appeared regretful and tense after urging Americans to vote
It appears that the prince was aware of how his discussion about voting was going to affect his family. Though the Sussexes called the forthcoming US election, the most important of a lifetime, body language expert Judi James believes the prince had other things on his mind. She told Daily Mail, Prince Harry looked “uncomfortable.” She added that he appeared “aware of the fall out” the interview would cause. She added,
His knees are splayed to suggest confidence and authority but it is a truncated gesture in terms of power as his legs are locked together at the ankle. There is some eye-stutter and eye-shuffle to suggest tension and a build-up of distraction signals that even include what looks like a knuckle-crack gesture at one point. Like nail-biting, knuckle-cracking can be a displacement or self-attack ritual that occurs when you can’t attack the person you are angry with.
James also added that his body language seemed to take a backseat to Meghan’s who took up more physical space during the interview.
