Princess Kate Channels Techniques of Late Mother-in-Law Princess Diana to Exude “A Massive Level of Confidence,” Body Language Expert Says

If you want to see a living, breathing example of a woman who has fully emerged into her own, look to the Princess of Wales. Now fully confident and sure of herself, longtime royal followers will remember that this wasn’t always so; early days Kate was shy, timid, and nervous, only within the last couple of years fully embracing her power within the royal family and exuding confidence.

But she’s there now, and The Daily Express reports that Kate takes one lesson from her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, to show off how secure she is within herself: “The thing about Kate Middleton is that she’s developed such a massive level of confidence and inner belief, so you put her in any situation and she’ll be her natural self,” body language expert Darren Stanton said. “If we look at how the Princess of Wales has evolved, she used to be pretty quiet and downplay a lot of things, whereas she handles things with a lot of self-assurance nowadays. In terms of how she walks, she walks with a swagger. In some contexts, that could mean arrogance, but not with her. It shows confidence as she doesn’t look back at who is with her.” 

Kate has been undertaking numerous solo engagements recently, and even when she is out with her husband, Prince William, she is able to work and act independently from him. “If she’s with William, she’s not checking on him, which is something Prince Charles tends to do with Queen Camilla,” Stanton said. “With Kate, she takes big strides, which is related to inner confidence. She doesn’t make any nervous gestures.”

That’s not always so with other senior royals, he said, even those who were born into the role. “We sometimes still see the likes of William and Harry put their hands in their jacket, which is a self-reassurance gesture,” he said. “We never see any sort of insecurity or distress signals from Kate. All her gestures are very deliberate and positive.”

Stanton has noticed, he said, that Kate has adopted some of the techniques Diana used while undertaking royal engagements, specifically pointing to Kate’s recent meeting with England rugby players after she attended the team’s matchup against Fiji in the Rugby World Cup in Marseille, France on Sunday.

“Kate was very much reminiscent of Princess Diana during the engagement,” he said. “Diana never played on the fact she was a royal. She was naturally herself, and Kate is very similar. In a number of these photos, we saw true emotions of happiness and joy in her facial expressions. She is genuinely happy to meet people from all walks of life and she always treats people with dignity and respect.”

Stanton also noted that Kate’s outfit choice is part of the strategy, and that the white blazer she chose allowed her to “downplay” her presence to let the players shine.

“Kate’s body language has changed since she became Princess of Wales, but perhaps not in the way that people might have expected,” fellow body language expert Judi James told The Daily Express. “The pressure could have caused some signs of anxiety and even imposter syndrome, but instead her confidence signals have been on an upward trajectory recently. She is now at something of a peak in terms of sending out signals, which suggests she now not only fully embraces and understands her role, but that she feels comfortable in it, too.”