We have seen enough interactions between Catherine and Meghan to confirm that they have really
different personalities and character.
But few interactions have been as widespread and polemic as this moment, for reasons that
you're about to find out.
Welcome back, my body language buddies!
my name is Jesús Enrique Rosas, I'm the Body Language Guy, and it would be great if you
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Trooping the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for over
260 years.
We are talking about a massive event with over fourteen hundred soldiers, two hundred
horses and four hundred musicians that come together each June, celebrating the Queen's
birthday, in this case.
Besides, it's always been a great opportunity to watch all members of the royal family interacting
with each other, and when it comes to body language, you know how useful can these moments
be to check gestures, and proximity, and in some cases, even facial expressions.
Despite the fact of being a formal event, there's the advantage of enough leisure time
on the balcony, as the really long parade progressess, so that gives even more opportunity
to spot those interactions.
And I understand that sometimes you can't really see their faces as they are so far
away, but as I've mentioned in other analysis, you should always work with the tools you
have.
And if the only thing that you can see is the general shape of their bodies, then that's
fine!
You can still spot relevant interactions.
And if you're lucky, reactions.
And this time we are talking about a reaction, and how important is THAT split second after
something has just happened.
Someone asks a question or someone arrives, or something unexpected happens.
In fact, a general rule of thumb is that the more unexpected the event, then the more spontaneous
and authentic the reaction and the expression will be.
That's why I tell you why it's so important that if you can foresee something that is
about to happen, that's the moment you should pay attention to people's faces, so you can
check their reaction.
And in Trooping the Colour 2018, something odd, totally unexpected, and almost tragic
happened.
This is Field Marshall Lord Guthrie.
He's a retired senior officer of the British Army who served as Chief of the General staff
and Chief of the Defence Staff.
On that event, he was riding a horse when out of the blue, he somehow fainted and fell.
Falling from a horse is dangerous enough, but you can imagine what, such an accident
can do to a man that was almost 80 years old at the time.
The good thing is that, even if he must have been almost unconscious by that moment, he
managed to fall on his shoulder and not on his head.
Policemen rushed, made a tight wall around him to assess the situation and paramedics
arrived soon after.
He was sent to the hospital where he fully recovered.
I'm pretty sure that you couldn't watch Lord Guthrie's fall without feeling a strong emotion
yourself, since fear of falling is something that is ingrained in all of us, with the notable
exception of most parkour influencers.
So, it's no wonder that such an unexpected event would spark the reaction of everyone
that was around him.
And that's when we get to this picture.
Before I say anything about it, I suggest that you take a good look, and as usual, use
your intuition to assess what is the first feeling, the first emotion you can read as
soon as you spot all their faces here.
If you want to go one step further, you can also mimic their faces and attitudes and try
to actually feel whichever emotion arises within you.
That is one of the best body language analysis exercises you can do in almost any situation.
Now for the fun part.
Why this picture is so polemic.
The first time I stumbled upon this picture, the caption linked their faces to Lord Guthrie's
fall.
And most probably, you've seen it with captions such as, "The difference in reaction between
Kate and Meghan to Lord Guthrie's fall, is the perfect example of how compassionate is
Kate, and how evil is Meghan."
Not to mention Harry's face, which I must say, fits perfectly with that description,
like he's also laughing at the accident.
But here's the thing.
The two events: Lord Guthrie falling from his horse, and the gestures in this picture,
happened... in different moments.
In reality, Lord Guthrie fell so far away from the balcony, that it would have been
really hard for anyone there to spot what happened, unless they had been purposefully
expecting it.
And nobody can foresee the future, unless you're Nicholas Cage in Next.
Now, you might be asking, then, what were they watching to have this reaction?
And to answer that question, it's much better if we watch the original video that shows
what really happened at that moment.
You can see that all the royals are up there, they are hanging out, interacting as the parade
is progressing, and then... you spot it.
The exact moment that corresponds with our polemic picture.
Catherine raising her fist to her mouth, Meghan leaning into Harry smiling, and Harry showing
his teeth.
Maybe it's a slightly different angle, between the picture and the video, but you can realize
that it's the same instant.
So, the answer to "what happened at that moment?" is: nothing.
Catherine was just coughing and Meghan...
well, maybe she was gossiping with Harry or something.
And there are other signals that confirm they were not reacting to Lord Guthrie's fall.
Kate raises her hand to her mouth, coughs, and immediately lowers it.
If this was real shock or surprise for watching a man falling from his horse, she would have
frozen for a couple seconds.
That is part of our reaction to an unexpected, shocking event.
Our brain will always need a couple seconds to assess the situation, what is really going
on, what can we do, how should we react.
At the same time, with so many people on the balcony at that moment, it's really strange
that no one else had any similar, visible reaction, even the ones that were actively
looking at the parade.
As I mentioned earlier, the site where Lord Guthrie fell is quite far from the balcony,
so it would have been really hard to spot, unless you were looking at it directly, and
expecting something to happen.
So, this photograph, that allegedly pictured the difference between a compassionate Catherine
and an evil Meghan...
THAT narrative was absolutely made up.
Because in THIS case in particular, they were not reacting to anything specific.
It was just a snapshot that someone deceivingly related to Lord Guthrie's fall with a caption...
and then everyone just went with it without checking.
Now... does it mean that I've just made a video to defend Meghan?
(SHOCKING REACTION INTENSIFIES)
Well yes! because you know what really bothers me?
when people make up stories from a photo or even a video, and either don't bother to check,
or even worse, spread falsehoods using our natural tendency to confirm our biases.
If you have been watching my videos for some time, you might be quite aware that I'm far
from being a Meghan fan.
In fact, precisely at that event there are other instants that are classic Markle Moments,
such as Prince Charles talking to the fastest vanishing smile in the West.
But defending her in this instance serves a great purpose, to illustrate a very important
lesson to grasp.
That we can be fooled by people who tap into our own biases.
That is a manipulation tactic and in fact, commonly used by narcissists.
And that's why it's so important to assess our own thinking and feelings towards people.
I understand that if you have bad experiences with someone over and over again, well, the
obvious choice would be to spend as little time with that person as possible.
And if you can, cut them off your life.
But sometimes, our perception and biases can fool us into making decisions that can be
actually harmful for ourselves, just because we didn't stop to assess the situation better.
Or as I say, "going to the source", like in this case.
Let's be honest: It's highly unlikely that someone that has been bullying you for some
time, will pull a SEVerus Snape at the last minute.
But it will be really good for your mental health if you use these tools to decipher,
and sometimes even predict, outcomes that involve other people's decisions.
And that's another tool that will come in handy.
If you want to refine your observation skills, all you have to do is download my 100+ body
language tips, right in the description of this video.
My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
Much Love, and Bliss.