- Earlier this week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, sat down for a rare, televised interview for the Time 100.
- The couple discussed politics in the interview and even urged American fans to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
- Speaking to the Daily Mail, body language expert Judi James explained that Harry appeared "uncomfortable" discussing American politics during the interview.
This week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sat down for a rare, televised interview for the Time 100. Speaking to the Daily Mail, body language expert Judi James broke down what we can glean about Harry's current state of mind from the unspoken clues he gave in the video.
According to James, Harry appeared "uncomfortable" and seemed like he was "aware of the fall out" his and Meghan's interview might cause with the rest of the royal family.
"Harry and Meghan appear to prefer to dress their more rebellious acts up in an appearance of friendly, down-to-earth normality, meaning it can take a while to realize what they are doing here is game-changing in terms of the royal firm," James explained of the significance of the interview, in which the couple touched on politics and urged American fans to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
James also noted that Harry took a backseat to Meghan in terms of body language, with Meghan taking up more physical space on the bench the couple shared during the interview, which took place in their backyard in their $14 million home in Montecito, California. According to James, this could have been a very calculated move on Harry's part.
"It’s possible he still needs to look like the guest rather than the host here to avoid looking like someone who is lecturing on a subject that doesn’t personally involve him," she said. "The fall-out effect can be counter-intuitive, as when Obama lectured UK voters about Brexit and possible pushed voting in favor of Brexit despite the U.S. president being very popular in the UK."
During the part of the video in which Harry and Meghan urged American fans to vote, the prince's discomfort peaks, according to James, who explained:
"This might look like a deeply likeable couple urging people to vote but Harry would have been well aware of the potential fall-out in the UK and in his own family. His distraction rituals seem to reflect that and hint at some levels of discomfort. His mouth pulls into a partial Oxbow mouth shape in a micro-gesture that could signal some slight regret.
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."
Read the rest of James' analysis of Harry and Meghan's Time 100 interview body language here.
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