Prince Harry exhibited “two conflicting sets of body language signals” as he arrived at a service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London during a brief visit to the UK, an expert says.
The Duke beamed at points as he made his way up the steps to the ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, the sporting competition for injured members of the armed forces he co-founded.
But his demeanour shifted as as he made his “rather lonely-looking” way up to the church, body language guru Judi James observed.
“His grin and his pace and energy of movement looked like signature Harry from his cheekier and even jauntier days and he even held his hand out in what looked like a steering gesture to motion the clergyman into his own church,” she told Daily Express US.
“But there were also some subtler body language signs of possible wariness and inner anxiety. Like his father’s cuff-fiddling and his brother’s hand-to-waist rituals, Harry’s self-comfort ‘tell’ is the holding of the jacket button to form a partial barrier with one arm, which he was doing here.”
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“It’s an unambiguous statement that Harry is not welcome; that the relationship between father and son has broken down, perhaps irretrievably,” he added.
Harry’s statement read: “It, unfortunately, will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme. The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Quinn said the Prince’s justification for not seeing his father “may sound perfectly reasonable, but it masks a huge amount of awkwardness, anger, and bitterness”
He continued: “King Charles is stricken with cancer yet his son says they are not going to meet during this rare visit and talks vaguely of seeing his father ‘some time’.”
