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What Does Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Body Language Say?

What Does Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Body Language Say?
An Expert Weighs In on Their First Appearance Together



Yesterday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their first joint appearance together. Yes, an event so groundbreaking, so invigorating, so miraculous that it must be put it in italics! (No, we aren’t obsessing over two strangers just to briefly distract ourselves from imminent nuclear obliteration or superstorm destruction or some freaky combination of both. Why do you ask?)
At the same time, it was almost too much of a good thing. Mere days ago there were only a few of photos of them together—and those were all grainy, out of focus, or taken from a distance. Now there are pages on pages of high-quality ones, and gasp, they capture so many different emotions! There’s laughing. There’s pondering. There’s gazing at each other and off into the distance. There’s hand holding. There’s hand-folding. There’s whispering. And while it was easy to dissect the small amount of pictures before, now it’s nearly impossible for even the most dedicated of Meghan-Harry over-analyzers.

It’s a job for an expert: a body language expert, that is.
Vogue asked Patti Wood, the “Babe Ruth of body-language experts”, to decode Harry and Meghan’s facial expressions, positioning, posture, and hand-holding from their big debut. Are they in love? Or is the pressure of the public eye taking its toll? Wood weighs in, below.


Photo: Getty Images
“This is a connection moment—we are going to laugh together in the same moment. We are having this experience of joy and fun together. It’s a purely happy moment. Big, big grin, showing upper teeth, which men typically only do when they are super happy and joyful and laughing. It’s really great.”


Photo: Getty Images
“It’s a pre-touch. We see that smile again—she’s just gleeful with that smile! He’s smiling too. Even if they aren’t looking in the same direction, it’s a cool moment. See how his legs are spread out? He does that all the time when he’s confident and relaxed. He goes into the ‘alpha male’—legs spread out. That’s just guy behavior. It means he’s really relaxed, open, connected with the experience.”


Photo: Getty Images
“There’s a lot of shared intimacy there. He kind of kisses her head, she’s smiling, his left hand holding her, and then they are holding hands with the other hands. I just love double touches! This is a spontaneous double touch hold! It’s really, really good—with royalty, there’s not a lot of double touching. Maybe you’ll see it on a red carpet, but you won't necessarily see it spontaneously. It’s a great sign. He’s not pulling her, he’s just holding her. This is very, very nice and relaxed.”


Photo: Getty Images
“He’s on the bottom, holding her hand up. He wants to be connected, but he wants to take care of her. I love that! He is leading her—but I don’t like when men lead and hold downward. That’s like a child—you have your hands on top and you are pulling them. In this case you are cupping and holding, and that is much more care-taking.”


Photo: Getty Images
“I love it. She’s comfortable leaning forward. It’s a comfortable moment.”
Wood’s final prognosis: Meghan and Harry are in love—and, incredibly, incredibly happy together. “They are used to sharing intimate conversations and intimate moments. They are having fun together, and a lot of the little touches and facial expressions—this is not the first time. This is something that they do together. They have fun times together.”



Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.