This is that royal engagement when Charles told the Sussexes about royal protocol and
they did as they pleased anyway.
You'll be surprised of all the body language clues hidden in this clip.
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They were about to enter a room where only SENIOR royal members could be at any given
moment, and after they left that room then any other working royal could enter.
So, in this case the ones that could enter the room were Her Majesty The Queen, Prince
Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
You might think that by this moment, at least Harry would understand royal protocol.
After all, he was born into it.
Meghan, on the other hand, claims that she was not aware of many rules about the job,
AND she has no clue how Google works.
But let's take a look at this clip.
We can see Charles going right up to Harry and the wife to chat a bit before going in.
He even leans in a bit to get closer to them.
By the way, I really did not get Harry's gesture about 'go ahead'.
I mean, was there any other option than the actual senior royals to go in?
But well, let's cut Harry some slack this time and assume that he was just being polite.
But the fact is that Charles did not stop to have a chat with the Harkles.
He just could not go in before the Queen.
He was just following protocol, stopping for a few seconds and chatting.
It's very easy to spot that only when Her Majesty is already ahead of the group and
into the room, then that's when Charles moves.
It's important to notice these clues because royal etiquette often conditions the timing
of certain body language clues.
So it's not that Charles stopped because he was being friendly, but more because he HAD
to stop.
Anyway, he begins to walk into the room and Harry was telling him something.
It's a bit hard to spot because the video quality is not that good, but Charles turns
around to respond.
And that's when this happens.
It was Meghan who broke protocol first, because when you zoom in at their feet, Harry had
no intention of moving at all.
We can imagine that he's used to this kind of engagements for so many years so he's aware
of how to behave.
So it's Meghan who makes the first step.
Immediately that Meghan begins to move towards the room, Harry does the same.
He should have told her at that moment that they had to stand back, but he didn't.
That's when Charles notices that the wife means business and she's going in with them.
In fact, Charles goes as far as to stop for a split second to signal, in this case, Meghan,
that they should stand where they are.
They just have to follow royal protocol.
Charles tries to be polite.
There's no way to confirm that he actually said, "stand back" like so many claim, but
he displays one body language gesture that you cannot go wrong with.
He makes a very subtle signal with his index finger, making it clear that they have to
stay there.
Take a good look at this image.
Harry knew that this was wrong because he hesitated.
He's almost two steps behind Meghan, playing with his ring.
He doesn't say anything.
He doesn't DARE to say anything.
I guess he didn't want to sleep in the royal couch again.
Charles cannot stay much longer because that's the instant when the Queen begins to talk
to him, addressing what's in the room.
So he must have said, "so be it", what's another blunder for these guys? and then he goes in.
Now, let's put the royal protocol issue to one side for a second, and let's compare the
attitude of the Sussexes versus the Cambridges.
William and Catherine enter side by side.
In fact, she's a half step ahead of William, talking to Camilla.
But what I want to point out is they went in together.
This is important.
When you focus your attention on Meghan, you can see that she did not pay attention to
Harry, at all.
She began walking, looking straight into Charles' face, and she did not stop or turn around.
Not even to confirm that Harry was walking behind her.
She just didn't care.
And I understand that learning so many rules and protocol could be a challenge for anyone.
But Meghan's prior job was memorizing scripts, so we know this was not a memory issue, and
more of an attitude issue.
Because Charles was telling her, explicitly, that she had to stay there.
Meghan was almost going in first, ahead of the Cambridges.
Again, not paying attention at all about her husband.
Well, to be fair, the Cambridges were not paying much attention to her, either.
More or less trying to avoid eye contact.
Now, this is interesting.
And sad, at the same time.
There's a moment when Meghan turns around, but it's not precisely to confirm that Harry
is behind her.
She turns her head almost on his direction, but her eyes are fixed on Catherine.
At first I thought it was on William, but her line of sight is not that high up.
But well, they go in either way.
And Charles is...
NOT amused at all.
But just a few seconds in and these two gentlemen rush to tell them that they, well... messed
it up, and they had to stay in the previous room.
Harry tries to negotiate with them but he KNOWS that he's in the wrong and that's why
he uses just one hand to talk.
His left hand remains stiff.
You can try it, try to speak using just one hand to emphasize your point and you'll notice
that you're going to feel really uncomfortable, and that's exactly how Harry felt at that
moment.
Now, what happens next is really funny.
William knows that they messed up and he turns around to take a look at them.
When he turns to the camera again, his face is almost an exact reproduction of The Office
meme.
Because William knows that Harry is well aware of how this works.
So the only reason they went inside is because Harry did not have the spine to tell his wife:
"no".
Well, I'm sure that William was already aware of who they were dealing with.
So no big surprises.
But then, he does this.
He realizes that the camera is recording the blunder so he decides to get in the way, with
a full step to his left.
Trying to cover up for his brother.
The only thing is that he forgot Meghan's uncanny ability to find the best angle to
look straight into the camera.
Meghan always finds a way.
But well, the Harkles are escorted to the other side of the room, to have another attempt
at royal etiquette.
It's also interesting to mention that both The Queen, Camilla and Kate, none of them
acknowledged the presence of Meghan and Harry at any point.
This is not to say that they are cold or anything.
It just means that this is a formal engagement with formal rules that need to be followed.
I guess that it was too hard to grasp for the montecito rising stars.
And that must be the reason why Meghan, minutes after, had a sudden attack of rapid blinking.
You can imagine what this situation did to her ego, caught on camera, ready to drop into
the internet.
Maybe she did it on purpose, so she could have another victim card to play later.
This scene is so fascinating because it speaks volumes about their different personalities
without having to hear a single word.
And I've mentioned it other times: If there are rules to follow, most of the time it's
easier to follow them, and focus on what do you have actual power over.
Yes, rules are meant to be broken, I know, but wisdom is knowing which rules can be broken
and under which conditions.
And breaking general rules of protocol at royal engagements is something that doesn't
lead to anything, besides making a fool of yourself in front of millions.
Meghan was an actress, and filming tv shows require a lot of rules.
Do you think she dared to break them like this?
Let me know what you think, in the comments.
If you want to refine your observation skills, all you have to do is download my 100+ body
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My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
Much Love, and Bliss.