The Duke is currently back in the UK and displaying traits associated with his father, according to one expert – but it remains to be seen whether the King will see his youngest son
Prince Harry is back on British soil for a four-day visit to the UK – and royal watchers have noticed a shift in his behaviour.
On Monday, Harry attended the WellChild Awards in London to celebrate the inspirational qualities of the UK’s seriously ill children. And, according to one body language expert, the Duke – who has made no secret of his desire to reconcile with his father – even echoed King Charles’s mannerisms during the charity event.
Judi James told the Mirror: “Harry’s body language mood for this visit to the UK appears to be on a setting marked ‘Conciliatory, submissive and saddened’, suggesting he might have been seeking some kind of reconciliation and presumably saddened if that doesn’t happen.
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“His rituals on arrival at the awards suggested high levels of anxiety, ironically mirroring his father’s trait of auto-contact barrier gestures.
“Charles has always pulled at his cuffs and patted his pockets in a self-sooth ritual and Harry’s are more about tie-smoothing, jacket-pulling and hand-wiping here.
“He also performed one very pronounced gesture when he clutched at his wedding ring, suggesting a desire for emotional support from his family.”
She continued: “His hand clasp as he posed for the group photo looked new. Royal men tend to either adopt the fig-leaf pose or hold their hands clasped with the backs facing the camera.
“But Harry clasped his hands in a very soft, compliant pose with the hands cupped with the palms facing upward. This elegant clasp looked like a ballet pose with a hint of passive thinking.”
Much has been made of Harry’s visit this week given his estrangement from his family. But according to Judi, his appearance at WellChild showcases the Prince as being “the royal we all still need”.
“His skills with small children and his signals of dedication and authentic caring have always been strong. He is playful and empathetic here and clearly passionate about this group, many of whom he has seen throughout their lives,” she explained.
“Harry and Meghan have always liked to use empathy as a ‘bonding’ technique, showing an ability to share experiences and challenges via their own problems. So there is a display of involvement here with an undercurrent of Harry’s life as the young people discuss their own.
Analysing a candid moment where Harry made a joke about ‘difficult’ siblings with one WellChild attendee, Judi explained: “Asking one young guy ‘Have you got brothers and sisters?’ Harry’s body language becomes earnest and involved, like a serious interview to share experiences.
“He leans forward with very focused eye contact and with his mouth working in micro-munching movements as though really keen to investigate, hooking it into his own sibling situation.
“Harry’s ‘Does he drive you mad or..?’ sounds like an ironic joke and if it is he is presumably using it to diminish the problems in his own relationship by making it sound like nothing worse than normal sibling play-fighting, something to joke about and overcome.
“This again seems to send out a subtle message of things not being serious or definitive. It’s what brothers do, for one to drive the other one ‘mad’ in a more amusing way.
Meanwhile, according to the expert, Harry isn’t only mimicing his father during his visit – he also used techniques used by his wife.
Judi explained: “The clip of Harry’s [ITV] interview shows him in reflective mode. When he talks about royal life he uses a body language technique that Meghan employs too.
“It’s a way of suggesting a slightly softer, distanced-by-time, stoic view that at the same time suggests there are thoughts emotions and memories not being spoken about out loud.
“Harry sits with his eyes lowered to the side here to suggest deep reflection and affection as he refers to ‘my grandparents’. He performs a warm smile of recognition and sadness and his words ‘I always used to laugh..’ emphasises a scene of closeness and humour, with Harry the bringer of fun in their lives.
“He adds a more ironic ‘funnily enough’ and like Meghan there is a gesture to quietly imply the rest of the story with a palm-display of the left hand plus an eyelid flutter to hint at a hiding of problems or anything negative.
“It suggests Harry is focusing on the good times and making the narrative lighter, but that clearly depends on the rest of the interview or others that might be following.”
Today, Princes William and Harry will go head-to-head with engagements in the UK – just hours after the feuding brothers honoured the late Queen separately.
The estranged pair were just eight miles from each other as they paid their respects to the nation’s longest-reigning monarch and their late grandmother on the third anniversary of her death yesterday.
Accroding to insiders, William has no desire to see his brother during his return to the UK and they are not expected to meet while Harry continues on with his first visit to the UK in five months today.
Later, William is set to visit a youth organisation in Lambeth, south London, while Harry will revisit the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in Nottingham’s St Ann’s area.
It remains to be seen whether the King will see his younger son. King Charles spent Monday at Birkhall, his Scottish residence, as he privately marked his mother’s death. But he does have a number of private audiences and meetings this week, and has since jetted back to London.
Harry has made it clear in recent months that he would like a reconciliation with his family, but it might not be so easy to paper over the cracks.
After losing his latest UK security battle earlier this year, the Duke also made the astonishing claim that his loss in the court case was an ‘Establishment stitch-up’, and he even publicly questioned how long his father had to live, claiming Charles “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff”.
A key area of concern for the royals is said to be trust. Harry has been accused of betraying his family by sharing many of their confidences, with fears that whatever Harry is told, ends up in the press.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Monday, the Royal Editor of the Sunday Times, Roya Nikkhah, was asked about Harry’s potential reunion with Charles.
She said: “No one knows apart from the King, Harry and his private secretary. As from what I understand, it’s still very up in the air.
