Prince Harry showed anger, bitterness, and a desire for righteousness during his scathing BBC interview on Friday, according to a body language expert.
The 40-year-old royal sat down for a conversation with Nada Tawfik after losing his appeal in court over his security. Harry said he was ‘devastated’ after losing his battle for taxpayer-funded armed police bodyguards when in the UK – putting him on the hook for £1.5million in costs.
The prince said he felt ‘let down’ and described his court defeat as a ‘good old-fashioned establishment stitch up’, blaming the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security.
He also revealed that his father no longer speaks to him, he will not bring his wife or children back to the UK, and that he’s had ‘so many disagreements’ with his family, some of whom ‘may never forgive’ him for writing a book.
Body language expert Judi James described the sit down as Harry’s ‘mic drop’ moment.
She told FEMAIL that the father-of-two’s ‘start-off stare suggested a man who’d found more toys to throw out of the pram’.
‘As he threw them there were non-verbal signals that suggested relish and even pleasure,’ Judi continued.
‘He licked his lips constantly and at one point half way through, as he warmed to his themes of dark conspiracy he even changed his position, pulling at his jacket and settling back into his chair as though getting even more comfortable for his disclosures of “all of the truth”.’
Body language expert Judi James told FEMAIL that Prince Harry’s stare ‘suggested a man who’d found more toys to throw out of the pram’
Judi added that the royal’s body language also signalled ‘moments of disgust’, as he appeared to sneer at certain points
Harry’s ‘wry smile’ was ‘another signal of satisfaction’ according to Judi, who said the expression ‘appeared frequently to suggest a man suffering, but bravely’.
In addition to the smile, there were what the expert described as ‘some staccato wry laughs too, especially when he spoke of the zero chance of being able to “take my family back to the UK”.’
Judi told FEMAIL that Harry’s body language also signalled ‘what looked like moments of disgust’.
She said: ‘Saying nobly that “I love my country”, he added “despite what some people in that country have done”, with his left nostril performing a sneer of disgust.
‘When he said “the other side won, keeping me unsafe”, his lips clamped into a grimace of disgust.’
The body language expert added that she saw ‘a desire to mask some of his inner emotions’ through Prince Harry’s ‘eyelid-fluttering or stutters’.
The prince (pictured) also displayed a ‘wry smile’ at points during the sit down according to Judi James, who described the expression as ‘another signal of satisfaction’
However, she noted: ‘There was a sense of co-ordination or latent synchronization with his wife, too. During her recent podcast interview Meghan was seen tearing up as she spoke of her husband, and Harry returned the favour here.”
Describing the moment this happened, Judi said: ‘When [Harry] said “the most important thing for me is my wife…”, he produced the moment of peak drama with a long silent pause as he looked down in a cut-off, and when he looked up he averted his gaze although the watery nature of his eyes was visible. Harry even pulled his nose with one hand in a childhood gesture associated with trying to stop crying.”
During the interview, Harry listed the members of his family he is willing to forgive, in a manner Judi described as ‘happily’.
She explained: ‘[He said] “I can forgive my father, my brother…” but then he performed a small ‘”side” gesture of another eye-flutter and that wry smile before adding, meaningfully, “my stepmother”.’
Judi noted that the duke’s feelings about his father ‘seemed to work on a small loop’.
She explained: ‘He referred to the fact that “life is precious” or that “I’m acutely aware of the fragility (of life)” when asked about his father’s cancer, and he looked down and sucked his lips inward in what looked like an expression of regret, but then his “looping” method saw him quickly drop the ball of guilt back in Charles’s court, with a “he won’t speak to me” or a “no, he wouldn’t want to talk about it”.’
King Charles III and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex inside Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022
According to Judi, the prince implied that ‘the only people to blame from now onward are the senior royals’, as opposed to himself by showing a series of ‘dismissive shrugs’ while saying he had ‘now found out the truth…if they don’t want that’.
She continued: ‘When asked if things could be resolved with his family his non-verbal response was a roll of the eyes and a cynical and loud puffing out of air to suggest it was unlikely.’
Judi also discussed Harry’s verbal tone during the interview, saying he implemented an ‘almost constant use of “upspeak” or “rising inflection”.’
This is ‘where the voice rises slightly at the end of each phrase, which is said to create the suggestion of helplessness, again suggesting Harry is keen to gather sympathy and support here by sounding like the victim’.
However, she noted: ‘But his choices of words were strong, like the way the royals are “imprisoned” if they want a different life, or the “dark” claim that “some people want history to repeat itself”, or his “I have uncovered my worst fears”.’
England’s second most senior judge, Sir Geoffrey Vos, yesterday told the Duke his ‘grievance’ over downgraded security had not ‘translated into a legal argument’.
The Duke of Sussex at the Royal Courts of Justice on April 8 during his appeal against a High Court ruling preventing him getting automatic taxpayer-funded police protection in the UK
And he ruled the security decision had been a ‘predictable’ and even ‘sensible’ reaction to Megxit when Harry stepped back from being a senior royal and quit Britain.
During the broadcast, Harry told the BBC in California that he wants ‘reconciliation’ with the royal family but was at present cut off from his father.
‘He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,’ the prince said, adding he didn’t know how long the King had left to live.
‘There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family,’ he said, but he had now ‘forgiven’ them.
However, while Harry said he wants reconciliation, it is understood King Charles is still frustrated and upset with his son.
Speaking to The Sun, a source close to the King said: ‘What has frustrated and upset him on a more personal level is the Duke’s failure to respect this principle.
‘And for his supporters to suggest that somehow his father doesn’t care about his family, or should step in.
‘He’s been particularly concerned that it has taken considerable resources and cost for the Government to defend their position.’
In response to the interview, Buckingham Palace said Harry’s security issues had been ‘examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion’.
