Prince Harry’s ‘lack of body engagement’ during his walkabout in London gave him ‘the option of a face-saving exit’ if he had a bad reception, an expert said today.
The Duke of Sussex greeted crowds as he left St Paul’s Cathedral alone yesterday following a service to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.
The estranged royal, who was met with cheers from well-wishers, beamed as he shook hands and joked around with hundreds of people who lined up to greet him.
And body language expert Judi James told MailOnline that he clearly marked the walkabout as ‘brief and impromptu via his body language announcement rituals’.
These included ‘bending towards the crowd and hunching his shoulders to avoid giving the impression that this was a scheduled event’, the psychologist added. She also said that he showed ‘signals of inner anxiety’ both before and after the service.
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Prince Harry meets members of the public outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London yesterday
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The Duke of Sussex waves to fans as he leaves St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday after the service
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Prince Harry waves to well-wishers outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London yesterday
And Ms James pointed out that Harry ‘stands away and leans in from a distance rather than making it more of a royal, immersive form of greeting and chatting’.
By JUDI JAMES
Harry has clearly marked this walkabout after the service as brief and impromptu via his body language announcement rituals, bending towards the crowd and hunching his shoulders to avoid giving the impression that this was a scheduled event rather than a quick pop across to register his ongoing popularity.
He stands away and leans in from a distance rather than making it more of a royal, immersive form of greeting and chatting and his lack of body engagement probably gives him the option of a face-saving exit if his reception is less than warm.
Harry’s wreathed grin with eye crinkling suggests he might be excited and relieved to meet fans in the UK although his signals of inner anxiety that were visible on the way into the service he are still on display here and might even have increased.
Harry’s hand to waist gesture on his way into the service was a barrier ritual masking as a buttoning of his jacket.
On his way out though he is placing his hand flat across his stomach and even switches hands when he goes to do handshakes with the crowd.
At one point his left hand also pulls his jacket across and he starts to fiddle with the buttonhole.
This placing of the flat of the hand across the stomach is a barrier ritual he shares with his brother William. Combined with the buttonhole fiddling it implies a desire to self-comfort.
For Harry it is linked to deeper emotions too as he has used it in the past when he has been speaking about his mother.
Judi James is a psychologist and body language expert
She said his ‘lack of body engagement probably gives him the option of a face-saving exit if his reception is less than warm’.
Ms James added: ‘Harry’s wreathed grin with eye crinkling suggests he might be excited and relieved to meet fans in the UK.’
As Harry left the cathedral around 6pm yesteday, he greeted the crowds and was heard asking two fans from New York what had brought them to the UK.
When they responded that they were in Britain for a wedding, the Prince jokingly asked whether it was ‘in there’ – referring to St Paul’s.
The Duke joked around with one enthusiastic fan who had her arms outstretched with two phones to try and get the best shot of Harry.
‘Why have you got two phones?’ he laughed. ‘It doesn’t make sense!’
The crowd was tightly guarded by police officers, and shouts of ‘we love you Harry’ could be heard while others screamed with excitement until Harry got into a Range Rover and was driven away.
Earlier, Harry arrived at St Paul’s just before 5pm for the service which was also attended by close relatives of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and a mentor who supported him after her death, along with hundreds from the ‘Invictus family’.
Analysing his arrival, Ms James said there were ‘signals of inner anxiety that were visible on the way into the service’ which were ‘still on display’ by the time he did the walkabout afterwards, and ‘might even have increased’.
She said: ‘Harry’s hand to waist gesture on his way into the service was a barrier ritual masking as a buttoning of his jacket.
‘On his way out though he is placing his hand flat across his stomach and even switches hands when he goes to do handshakes with the crowd. At one point his left hand also pulls his jacket across and he starts to fiddle with the buttonhole.’
She added that the ‘placing of the flat of the hand across the stomach’ is a ‘barrier ritual’ which he shares with his estranged brother Prince William.
Ms James continued: ‘Combined with the buttonhole fiddling it implies a desire to self-comfort. For Harry it is linked to deeper emotions too as he has used it in the past when he has been speaking about his mother. ‘
Among the guests for the service were Diana’s siblings Lady Jane Fellowes and Earl Spencer, and former army officer Mark Dyer, who acted as the duke’s mentor, playing the role of a supportive big brother figure for Harry after the princess’s death.
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Fans take photographs of Prince Harry as he greets well-wishers at St Paul’s yesterday
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Prince Harry shakes hands with fans who waited to meet him outside St Paul’s yesterday
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Fans take photographs as Prince Harry shakes hands outside St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday
Other notable guests included his cousin Louis Spencer, the Prime Minister’s wife Akshata Murty and his lawyer David Sherbourne.
Crowds had gathered around crash barriers to see the Harry’s car pull up, and Harry acknowledged them with a wave as he strode up St Paul’s steps before being warmly greeted warmly greeted by the Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett.
The St Paul’s Cathedral service to recognise the Paralympic-style competition the royal founded began as a few miles away Charles met guests at the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the year.
The monarch and his son have not met during Harry’s brief UK visit due to the King’s ‘full programme’, said Harry’s spokesman in a statement on Tuesday.
There have been reports of issues of trust but the statement had a conciliatory tone and mentioned how the duke hoped to ‘see him soon’.
Harry was inspired to found the global tournament after attending the Warrior Games in Colorado in 2013 and seeing how injured American military personnel thrived on the challenge of taking part in competitive sports that aided their recovery.
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Prince Harry greets members of the public yesterday outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London
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Police officers watch over crowds waiting to meet Harry outside St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday
He went on to stage the inaugural games in London’s Olympic Park in 2014 and the tournament has been held across the globe from Orlando and Sydney to Dusseldorf in 2023, with the 2025 event being hosted in Vancouver and Whistler.
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The St Paul’s congregation of just over 1,000 people gave a standing ovation after ex-RAF servicewoman Michelle Turner, husband John and daughter Maya each read verses of a poem that described their experiences following Mrs Turner’s medical discharge, after a tropical disease she caught while on deployment affected her heart.
Mrs Turner, Team UK captain for the 2018 Games, told the guests: ‘Wounded, injured, sick, and now with no career: consumed by insecurities, the pain and the fear.
‘Our lives were upside down, how could it be, that the little girl I was meant to protect, was now looking after me.’
At the end, after her voice broke with emotion as she said ‘Thank you Invictus for giving my life back’, the congregation stood and applauded.
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Prince Harry waves to fans who waited to meet him outside St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday
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Prince Harry hugs his uncle Earl Spencer and aunt Lady Jane Fellowes at St Paul’s yesterday
The Dean of St Paul’s echoed her words in his sermon when he said the Invictus Games Foundation, which organises the competition, was ‘ … not only changing lives through sport but quite literally by saving lives’.
Harry later joined some of the Invictus community for a private reception in the cathedral’s crypt and it is thought he will travel today to Nigeria, for a tour of the African country with his wife Meghan.
The King is in Surrey for a military visit today and Prince William is in Cornwall for official engagements.
Charles, who is Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Engineers, will visit the 3 Royal School of Military Engineering in Minley, before speaking to members of the 8 Engineer Brigade, which is the centre’s deployable unit.
