In Prince Harry’s tell-all 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper, he gave some insight into the state of his relationship with Prince William and King Charles. A body language expert looked at Harry’s gestures and expressions during the interview, noting one subtle sign that showed “discomfort.”
Prince Harry explained why he had to share his story publicly during ’60 Minutes’ interview
The 60 Minutes Instagram account shared a clip of Harry’s interview with the caption noting, “Prince Harry tells @andersoncooper he was the target of press leaks after private conversations with members of the royal family.”
Cooper asked him, “One of the criticisms that you’ve received is that, OK fine, you want to move to California and you want to step back from the institutional role. Why be so public? You say you tried to do this privately?”
Harry explained his reasons. “Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife,” he said. “You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain, but it’s just a motto.”
Cooper said, “There’s a lot of complaining and a lot of explaining … being done through leaks.”
Harry called the palace’s silence a “betrayal” and explained how stories would be leaked to the media.
“They will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent. And that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story,” Harry told Cooper. “And at the bottom of it they will say that they’ve reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.”
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Prince Harry added, “So when we’re being told for the last six years, ‘We can’t put a statement out to protect you,’ but you do it for other members of the family… there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.”
Expert said Prince Harry displayed subtle clue during interview that showed ‘discomfort’
Body language expert Judi James shared her analysis of the interview with the Mirror, pointing out how Prince Harry looked “wary and defensive.” She noted a subtle gesture that showed his “discomfort.”
“His eye expression looks more wary and defensive and we can see four gestures that would seem to confirm this wariness and discomfort: He licks his lip, he raises one hand to rub his knuckles against his nose, he employs some heavy swallowing and he sniffs loudly,” James explained.
The body language expert explained how one move, in particular, reinforced that he was “uncomfortable.”
She noted, “The hand-to-the-face gesture looks like a cut-off or partial face-covering ritual that people tend to use when they are uncomfortable with the things they are saying.”
James also shared how Harry conveyed anger with his word choices. “Despite this awkwardness, there are still some cues that suggest anger and indignation as he begins to throw out sound bites to try to get his message across, like ‘briefings and leakings,’ ‘never complain, never explain‘ and he pauses before saying to gain maximum attention: ‘silence is betrayal.’”
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