William and Harry reunited to unveil the statue of Lady Di in what could have been her sixtieth
birthday, and their body language revealed solid details about the current state of their
relationship.
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Let's get down to it!
The first thing you notice in the first ten seconds of the video is that even both brothers
are smiling, they show some pacifying gestures.
These are signals that reveal being nervous or upset in any given situation.
For example, right at the very first second we can see Harry touching and maybe twistitg
his weddding ring, which is a very common pacifier.
Another subtle gesture of not being that comfortable is the way William adjusts his jacket with
two fingers, while Harry touches the tip of his tie, both at the same time.
When you read the body language of two or more people, try to spot if there are any
signals of synchronization between them.
And this is regardless their emotions.
They could be happy, nervous or even angry with each other.
If you spot synchronized gestures, then there's still some empathy between them.
But Harry is the one that displays the strongest signals of not being that comfortable when
he covers his belly with his right hand.
That is a defensive gesture, and at the same time he lets William take the lead by a few
steps.
That's the first signal in this video of the attitude from Harry to William.
Even so, Harry displays a nice attitude towards his brother, and shows full smiles when looking
at him from behind.
Another body language clue from Harry that is very useful when you're reading people
is the way he hides his thumb behind his tie.
Our thumbs represent our ego, and hiding them mean that we want to be... kind of invisible
at the time.
So far, Harry shows that he's not that comfortable being there.
Here's a very good example of Synchronization, when both brothers are meeting their aunts
at the garden.
It's really easy to miss, but if we watch in slow motion you can clearly see that for
two or three seconds they movements match perfectly; not only in posture, but also in
speed and angle.
That's what I'm talking about when I suggest you should keep your eyes open for these kind
of 'coincidences'.
That always means a bond between two people.
One thing that I noticed about Harry is that at more than one moment, he was standing with
his elbows out.
You might think that's a posture of dominance or power, and it is, but since you can't define
the meaning of any gesture without the context, it's important to spot the dynamics between
the three men at this point.
William is talking to the assistant, and Harry is standing, looking at William.
That's a common attitude between brothers: The firstborn involved with details, with
responsibility, and the younger is trying to get his attention, not just by his posture,
elbows out, but also searching for his eyes.
That's just regular attitude between two brothers and their age differences.
Now, if you watch the entire video you'll notice that William almost never looks directly
at Harry.
That is, unless Harry does really open hand gestures to draw his attention.
Now, watch the moment of the unveiling itself:
Notice that William stays up front to the statue with his hands and elbows close to
his body.
Harry does a classic younger brother gesture, that is looking for his big brother's reaction.
That is also a common trait.
Younger brothers grow up mimicking their oldest siblings so they have a clue on how to react
to any situation.
Now, Harry tries to draw William's attention again, walking towards him, talking and using
hand gestures, but William barely acknowledges Harry's intentions.
That's the moment when Lady Sarah, their aunt, steps in and goes close to William.
I'd like to know if you can help me decipher this gesture from Lady Sarah.
Stepping in between the two brothers and stayng close to William.
I'd be glad to read you in the comments.
Anyway, I think that Harry's attitude, right after unveiling the statue was not the most
adequate since he didn't take even five seconds to take a good look at it.
But... if you've seen my previous videos on the Royal Family and specially the one about
the documentary with Oprah "The Me That You Can't See", you would know that the subject
of his mother is still an open wound for Him.
So, I would not be surprised that the unveiling of her effigy will make him really nervous.
Specially if the theme of the statue itself is Diana sort of taking care of three children.
You might think, well...
Harry is a grown man, he should not be reacting like this, and... you'll be right, this reaction
is going to be translated as not respectful at all.
But my point, what I really want you to consider is that when you're reading human behavior,
it's not enough to look at the body language or external signals.
If you are aware even of a tiny bit of the context, or the emotional state of the person,
or their traumas, you can have a better understanding of their reactions.
I'm not saying that Harry's reaction is OK, but at least we know where does it come from.
Harry tries desperately to draw both William and Lady Sarah's attention but they really
don't pay any to him.
Especially Lady Sarah, who barely turns her head towards Harry's direction before walking
around William to the other side.
These are the kind of signals that even if you don't know the background story you can
still get how Lady Sarah feels about Harry.
And he notices it, because he immediately crosses his leg and touches his wedding ring
again.
And that is not the last time he touches his wedding ring, he does it a third time just
ten seconds later.
By the way,if you want to level up your skills in body language and be able to interpret
all these clues, you can get my body language book right on the description of this video.
As for William, since the unveiling he has barely acknowledged Harry's presence, he made
a full step away from him, and at times he even turns around and shows his back to Harry.
And this is when you make a distinction between behaving accordingly to the moment, to the
unveiling of the statue, and on the other hand expressly trying to avoid eye contact
with his brother.
Again, even if you don't know what is going on between them, you would still have the
hunch that William doesn't want to be around Harry at that moment.
It's like when they were talking to Scupltor Ian Rank-Broadley, Harry was visibly nervous
and a bit childish.
Although I've read people in social media arguing that he didn't know how to behave,
I think I prefer watching Harry like this, being a bit foolish and even excited.
You know how rare have been these kind of moments in recent years.
William is buying none of it, and besides standing a bit closer to the sculptor than
to his brother, his head is tilting a bit away from Harry.
Maybe you've noticed that his right arm, or the arm closer to Harry, has been flexed at
many instances after the unveiling, but William had his arm like that as they were entering
the garden and Harry was on his other side, so we can discard that subtle barrier as maybe
part of William's body baseline, or common body language traits.
But Harry, he's so nervous that he touches his wedding ring a fifth time, and in this
occasion he literally grabs hold of it for almost 30 seconds.
I don’t know if Harry was thinking, “maybe if I rub it enough, it will eventually disappear”
And he means it, because there is a sixth and then a seventh touch after that.
Could Harry be thinking of Meghan at that moment?
I think it's highly likely, since one of the most relevant parts of their interview with
Oprah was the fact that Harry was watching the story of his mother struggles, happening
again but with Meghan.
And before you jump and say that there is no comparison between them, I'm not talking
about the comparison itself, but the way Harry is processing the event.
It sparks a lot of anxiety on him and he tries to vent by touching and twisting his wedding
ring.
There is an obvious connection between how Harry feels about his mother and how he feels
about Meghan.
I think we don't gain anything from judging him about that, but instead use it as learning
about human behavior.
That would be a better approach.
There are more defensive signals on Harry's attitude; for example, when they are walking
with Moustache Messi.
He touches his tie and hides his thumb again for a few seconds, an EIGTH wedding ring touch
and finally they stop by to chat.
He covers his belly again, NINTH wedding ring touch and assumes the same posture of a few
minutes before, standing with his elbows out, trying to be noticed again.
I don't know, I looked at Harry doing that posture and he looked just like a character
from a crime scene investigation drama.
"What we got here today, Jonathan?"
Anyway, there are enough body language signals to notice that William was not comfortable
being around Harry.
And beyond the fact that he was trying to be respectful for the unveiling of her mother's
statue, he barely acknowledged his brother and sometimes even stepped away from him.
We didn't get to hear them talk, but that was not necessary.
Their body language spoke the state of their current relationship, and the fact that Harry
still hasn't been able to overcome both the loss of his mother and at the same time, the
tension produced by the decision he made, it doesn't make any easier for them to reconnect.
Next time you see them, or any other two people, make sure to keep these signals in mind.
I'm sure it will be interesting.
I've got more videos that will help you understand human behavior and level up your skills on
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