Exclusive
BROTHERLY BOND
William and Harry were ‘nervous’ and ‘going through the motions’ at Charles and Camilla’s wedding, body lang expert says
Body language expert Judi James analysed three pictures from Charles and Camilla's 2005 wedding
WILLIAM and Harry were “nervous” and “going through the motions” as they watched their dad remarry, a body language expert has claimed.
King Charles II wed Camilla Parker-Bowles on April 9 2005, nearly eight years after his ex-wife and mother to his sons, Princess Diana, tragically died.
5
5
And it seems attending the ceremony was even harder for Prince William and Prince Harry than the public may have thought, says Judi James.
“Few step-children will have had to dig as deep as Diana’s two devoted and loyal sons did when attending the marriage of their father to Diana’s sworn rival Camilla,” she said.
“It is to the brother’s credit that they suppressed what must have been many negative emotions for the sake of their father and the need for family unity.”
“The pair opted for two key motivational techniques: overkill displays and muscle memory formalities.
read more on the royal family
“The first provides an outlet for any building tension and rising adrenaline and the second allows you to go into automatic pilot mode.”
Charles and Camilla’s relationship began back in 1971 when the pair were introduced by a mutual friend.
Aged 23, they quickly became close friends talking for hours on the phone and spending as much time together as possible.
However, the relationship never progressed amid warnings from Charles’ great-uncle Lord Mountbatten that Camilla was not “sufficiently aristocratic” to marry into the Royal Family.
Most read in Royals
The then-Prince of Wales tied the knot with Diana in 1981 upon his family’s recommendation - but the People’s Princess called the relationship “tricky” as she knew how much Charles loved Camilla.
She claimed that before her wedding, she found out Charles had a bracelet made with the initials "G" and "F" for Gladys and Fred – pet names Camilla and Charles had for each other.
She also found photos of Camilla in Charles' diary on their honeymoon, as well as cufflinks with the initials "C" and "C" intertwined.
Five years on from their spectacular wedding, Charles and Diana's marriage was lost – with Camilla firmly back in the picture.
Given the complicated history of their parents’ relationship, it’s no surprise that William and Harry looked “unhappy and troubled” during Charles and Camilla’s wedding.
Body language expert Judi James analysed three pictures from the day for Fabulous, revealing how the two men really felt on the day.
Going to the Chapel
5
“Arriving at the ceremony here, the suggestion is that the brothers might have found acted social smiles difficult to produce,” Judi says.
“Both are body language ‘leakers’ with Harry in particular tending to be rather bad at covering up his emotions.”
Despite the pair seeming to be in good spirits en route the civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall, something much darker was going on behind the smiles.
“This ‘assumed jollity’ allowed them to release any inner tension, while shared laughter can help to give an outlet to emotions like anger and even grief,” Judi says.
“But there are still two non-verbal signals of the effort involved here:
“William has one hand placed on his stomach in a self-comfort barrier ritual.
“Both brothers have been seen to hold their own stomachs when talking about Diana - it seems to pinpoint an area of shared grief and self-comfort for them.
“Harry is smiling like William but his chin is dropped, making it anything but a polite social smile.”
Formal Affair
5
William and Harry relied on “muscle memory” of royal protocol to look emotionally posed in the wedding’s formal pictures, Judi says.
“There are some subtle signs to give hints of their true feelings here,” she explains.
“While everyone else in the line is staring dutifully into the camera, Harry’s eye-gaze looks distracted.
“This makes it look as though his smile is prompted by something off-camera, rather than by the happy couple to his left.
“Wedding photographers will go to great lengths to get everyone looking straight into the camera and smiling happily so this looks like a deliberate act of disengagement from Harry.”
William’s smile looks “rigid and unconvincing”, and like the product of effort rather than genuine happiness, she adds.
“He and Harry stand in mirrored, fig-leaf hands poses to suggest unity, but their spacing appears telling,” Judi continues.
“While William seems to be something of a peace-maker here, standing close to his father, Harry appears to have created a larger spatial gap between himself and the rest of the line, again suggesting an unwillingness to engage.”
Taking The Vow
5
Harry’s true feelings at the wedding came through as he watched his father take his vows with a woman that wasn’t Diana, Judi says.
“It can be the smaller moments when the masks slip,” she explains.
“Harry turned his head to look at the bride and groom and his unhappy, troubled expression seems to express it all.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“His loyalty to his mother conflicted with a desire to play ‘happy’ for the sake of his father.”
On the other hand, William kept his head bowed in a ‘pray’ position and wore “a frown that almost suggested tearfulness”.
Topics