In October 2015, Meghan was asked to choose, who did she prefer.
William or Harry?
And her reaction revealed the strong emotions that she was trying to hide.
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It was one question after another about random topics non related to the British monarchy
or anything... and then the interviewer shot this:
- Prince William or Prince Harry?
- I don't know - Harry?
- Harry.
Sure.
The first impression we have of her expression is confusion.
As i said, that question was absolutely out of the blue.
But I guess that it's not that difficult to guess that a magazine like HELLO, which covers
all the monarchies in almost every issue, is going to ask a question like that.
Now, just in case you missed it: She doesn't answer, but it's only after the interviewer
suggests Harry, that Meghan says "Harry, sure."
People could take this gesture as a sign that Meghan was absolutely unaware of anything
related to the British Monarchy.
Like, who are you talking about?
Which William and Harry do you mean?
But the year before, in 2014, she had already written about Catherine in her blog, the Tig.
And it was not just a passing reference.
She wrote, "Grown women seem to retain this childhood fantasy.
Just look at the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding and endless conversation
about Princess Kate".
I think it's a bit far fetched to classify that as envy, but at the very least it has
that bit of snark in it to understand that she had formed an opinion about it.
There was an emotion attached to that comment.
There's also the fact that some of Meghan's childhood friends have claimed that she took
a close interest in the royal family, especially in Diana.
Royal biographer Andrew Morton also claimed that Meghan watched Diana’s funeral with
“tears coursing down her cheeks”.
He wrote: “Aged 16, she watched the funeral of Diana with her friends, tears coursing
down their cheeks at the poignant moment when the cameras zoomed in on the royal coffin.”
This is important because we need all the context to make sense of her reaction.
For example, on a criminal investigation, if you ask someone if they were at Eno's diner
at twelve o'clock, and they say that they don't know that place.
And they look convincing.
But then you find various receipts of a library that is next to Eno's diner, and it doesn't
directly incriminate them, but raises suspicions about how legit is their answer.
So, reVIsiting her reaction, now we are in a different scenario.
This is no longer the face of someone that 'is not aware of the British Monarchy', but
it's something else.
Now, let's compare with another answer, to a different question:
- Last concert you saw?
- Oh, Elton John! it was an AIDS benefit in New York, last year.
It was Amazing.
There's something that you should be aware about questions, and they are not all created
equal.
You might already know about yes and no questions versus open questions that need a longer answer.
But if you want to really go deep into someone's behavior, you need to be aware of the type
of cognitive load of the questions you ask.
The first question, "Prince William or Prince Harry"? has two levels of cognitive load.
The first one is that Meghan needs to load these characters in her mind.
The second level is that she has to choose between them.
If you are well aware of the topic, then loading the items in your mind becomes easier.
For example, if I ask you to name five rivers of Europe, it's going to depend how familiar
are you with that topic.
In the case of the concert question, "what is the last concert you saw?", the word 'concert'
is easy to load, but the person has to backtrack in time to find the correct answer.
And since the answer will require your mind to establish both a place and time in the
past, it will have to juggle both at the same time.
It's like if I asked you, when was the last time you ate chicken.
So, two questions with different cognitive load, being the concert question the most
complex, cause aPROximately the same hesitation.
The same time to process the answer.
But we already know that 'loading' William and Harry in her mind was instant.
That is something that Meghan would never have had trouble thinking about.
So, if she took that much time to answer, it's because two main possible reasons.
One, the decision itself was hard, or...
Two, she was thinking about the reperCUSsions of her answer.
How it could affect her.
Let's go first with option number one.
The decision itself was hard.
That would be hurtful enough for Harry.
Can you imagine that she had said William?
That would have been really uncomfortable for so many reasons.
But what I noticed was this.
When the interviewer says "Harry", like suggesting the answer, Meghan repeats his name but not
as an affirmation, like "Well, Harry it is", but instead, the tone is like a question.
Let's look at that exact moment again, just Meghan repeating Harry's name, and try to
focus on her voice tone, the question inflection of the word and her facial expression.
- Harry?
Harry?
She gives the feeling, a very strong feeling, of being mocking to the idea of choosing Harry.
Like, "Harry?
seriously?"
And it's only after, that she says 'sure'.
Now, we hit a roadblock in terms of facial expressions here.
I'm sure you noticed that when she answered the concert question, she had this rapid fire
facial expressions, that were a bit... exaggerated.
And we've already seen other interviews of her where she has this rapid display of facial
expressions that can be so confusing and unsettling at the same time.
It's nice when someone displays emotions and facial expressions, because it makes so much
easier for others to connect with them.
But I don't know why I always have this feeling about Meghan trying too hard.
That must be the reason why Meghan has so many different displays of attitudes.
It's like in this interview we are looking at one woman, in her speeches we are looking
at another one, and with her royal and post royal appearances we are looking at two more
women.
I'm not saying that your behavior is not going to adapt to the circumstances.
But for example, if you look at Angelina Jolie both in her movie interviews and in her charity
work, you see the same personality.
The same woman.
Pretty much the same facial expressions.
That's why Meghan looks like she's trying too hard to come off as relatable, as warm.
And people pick it up.
Especially, other women.
If she had trouble picking her favorite in this question, maybe it was because she did
not care about either of them?
But the problem is that there is more than enough photographic evidence that the Duchess
of Sussex finds, at least her brother in law, easy on the eyes.
Yes... that cannot be unseen.
So, the only option left is that she was running in her mind to check the reperCUSsions of
her answer.
And I would NOT go as far to affirm that she had planned all this for years, but the answer
is much simpler.
She didn't want to be bound to her answer.
And this is not like Adele being asked the same question and saying that she just prefers
Harry, without any problem.
So Meghan taking that long to answer, and having to be served the answer, is a sign
that she had a conflict with what she wanted to say.
What's more, knowing Meghan's track record through many videos and many analysis, of
such a dominant personality, I don't think she would have felt comfortable picking the
man that was already taken.
You know, taken with all the... pomp and circumstances.
But to be fair, women don't always fall in love with a man for how does he look.
And that would explain Marc Anthony's relationship history.
Maybe Meghan fell in love with Harry's for his... striking personality and charisma,
right?
Right?
I have to give props to Meghan for thinking really fast and giving a non answer to a question
that would have haunted her even more than Piers Morgan's tweets.
I'd love to read your opinion in the comments.
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My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
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