The Duke of Sussex is now playing second fiddle in his relationship, and there was an exact moment when Prince Harry “quite openly posed” as Meghan Markle’s “spare” according to a body language expert.
In Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir, released in January 2023, the Duke of Sussex did write about being harshly labelled as a “spare” to his brother, Prince William.
Harry claims that he was 20 years old when he was told his father, King Charles, had said to his late mother, Diana Princess of Wales after his birth: “Wonderful. You have given me an heir and a spare. You have done your job.”
Body language expert, Judi James, has claimed Prince Harry played a less dominant role in his relationship when the duo graced the Time Magazine front cover.
After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back as working royals in 2020, they graced the cover of Time Magazine.
A caption on Instagram was posted by the magazine: “Prince Harry and Meghan are among the 100 most influential people of 2021. “In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know. They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle,” writes @chefjoseandres.”
Body language expert, Judi James told Fabulous magazine: “Their cover of Time Magazine seems to provide a perfect illustration of their status fluctuations and a powerhouse moment when Harry was quite openly (and presumably compliantly) posing as Meghan’s ‘Spare’.”
She added: “The power signals on this Time magazine cover shot are only marginally less surprising than Harry’s apparently relaxed and agreeable approach to being posed looking like a ‘Plus one’.”
The expert added the pose was similar to Harry looking like a hairdresser, showing off his handiwork to the camera, with the celebrity client, in this case Meghan, being the “star”.
Studying the front cove, Judi pointed out that Meghan dominates nearly two-thirds of this cover photo and said her white outfit upstages Harry’s plain black clothing.
She added: “Meghan’s legs are splayed in a power pose while Harry seems to have one leg gone AWOL [absent without leave].
“Meghan’s hair is also fanned out, with ‘big hair’ being associated with power and strength, and the upturned V gap under her armpits signals confidence.”
Despite the imbalance in the photo, the body language expert said both Meghan and Harry have the potential to be the “alpha” in the relationship because of his royal status as a prince.
