William and Catherine attended the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick and Tom Cruise was right
there to greet them at the red carpet.
And this gesture from the legendary actor sparked controversy online, for reasons that
you're about to find out.
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The precise moment that we are talking about is right after William and Catherine had arrived.
They spent a couple minutes speaking with Tom right beside a series of stairs, and then
went forward.
There were a couple steps, and Tom did a very quick gesture of offering his hand to help
Catherine go up.
She accepted the offering, let go of his hand as soon as she had gone through, and then...
that was it.
I understand the concerns of some about the protocol of hanging out with the royals.
The general rule of thumb is that you don't touch them, unless they initiate the contact.
For example, if they extend their hand for a handshake.
There are claims that this gesture was a publicity stunt, and was prearranged between the producers
of the film and the royal family.
But there are enough body language signals that prove, th0is was not planned and the
first one is Catherine's facial reaction.
When you're analyzing a facial reaction, the first step is always to spot what was the
person's emotional state right before the reaction happens.
And in this case, we can confirm that seconds before, Catherine had her usual, relaxed face
with genuine smiles.
She was looking at Tom with all her attention.
Now, let's zoom in at her face at the precise instant when Tom stops, turns around and offers
his hand to her.
It's a deliberate gesture, because he moves his body not in a quick and insecure reaction,
but with intention.
From this angle we can see two things.
First, the instant when Tom's body and extended hand enters her field of vision.
And two, the moment she looks at him and decides what is she gonna do with his extended hand.
Kate made this decision in literally half a second.
But we know that this took her by surprise, because she doesn't have her usual smile at
that moment.
This is how we confirm that this gesture was NOT staged.
That Catherine didn't know this was gonna happen.
And just one second later, we can notice that her jaw is still tense.
There are many ways to notice that someone's jaw is tense.
Maybe you can see their muscles jump, something that I've mentioned in William a couple times,
but in this case is Catherine's chin pushing a bit forward.
As many other body language gestures, a tense jaw doesn't have a meaning in itself, but
it is a signal that the person doesn't feel comfortable with something, or did not expect
something.
It's interesting to see that as soon as she let go of Tom's hand, she changed her purse
from her right hand to her left.
It's a subtle signal that, since there were more stairs ahead, she could block his gesture
from repeating.
Now, we have talked enough about Catherine.
What about William's reaction?
Well, at first sight I thought William didn't notice the gesture when it happened.
But it would have been really odd, because it was right in front of him.
And this is why it's so important to look for every single piece of footage that you
could get your hands on when analyzing the body language of public personalities.
Ironically, from a side angle is easier to spot the exact instant that William noticed
the gesture and realized he couldn't do anything about it.
It's also easy to pinpoint his reaction because he pressed his lips at that exact moment,
a body language display that is similar to Kate's tense jaw.
Maybe that's the reason why he also decided to turn away to greet at the public behind
him.
What do you think?
and there's also that repeated fixing of his bowtie, that doesn't happen at any other time
in these clips.
Again, further proof that Tom's gesture was not prearranged and took the Cambridges by
surprise.
But before we mention something else about Catherine's reaction to this situation, we
need to take a look at Tom Cruise himself.
Yeah, the argument that he was breaking protocol still stands...
BUT we know that he's a huge supporter of Her Majesty The Queen and the royal family,
so he MUST be aware of the protocol in this kind of situations.
What I see in his body language is that it was not his intention to make Catherine feel
uncomfortable.
Because for all the explosive and energetic that he usually is, he was keeping his head
down, and his left hand was on his belly, in a subtle defensive gesture.
His attitude signals that he was not doing it for the show, but instead, natural politeness.
And to be fair, if I were in the same situation, I would have done the exact same thing, because
it's a matter of being a gentleman.
Something that is going to spring almost automatically and without giving it much thought.
I mentioned that we needed to take a look at Catherine once again, and there is this
moment, barely ten seconds later, when they are greeting the cast of the movie.
You notice that Tom stays behind them, but at the same time excited of having them there.
And Catherine once again displays genuine smile`s, especially when talking to him.
So it's like she came back to that state of being relaxed again, because this is no different
from many other engagements that they have been through.
Special mention is that blink-and-youll-miss-it public display of affection of William to
her, when he puts his hand on her back.
Yeah, that hand is William's.
I double-checked.
This is nice to see in the Cambridges, because it's the subtle couple dynamics that usually
go unnoticed.
Of all body language displays, touch is the purest form of communication, and I'm sure
THAT gesture was a way of William connecting with Catherine in a silent way.
Now, something interesting happens when they are greeting Miles Teller.
You might remember him from the film Whiplash.
I loved that film, and I'm a huge fan of his work.
But it seems that I'm not the only one, because it's really easy to spot that William greets
him in a way that stands out from most.
His eyebrows go really up, in a full contraction, and you might remember that this is a gesture
that signals not only surprise, but that we are greeting someone that we like a lot, or
maybe someone that me admire.
We can even see William's eyes wide open, laughing and acting very emotional when talking
to him.
Well, now you know another fact about the Duke of Cambridge.
He loves Miles Teller.
Also, notice how Tom reaches out to touch him, in a very powerful way.
This is yet another signal that reveals Tom's proactive personality.
Now, people are gonna complain and critizise everything, no matter what you do.
Especially, if you are William or Catherine.
And in this case, you get all kind of remarks, from "William is the one that should have
offered his hand", to "Catherine should not have accepted Tom's offering".
Yes, I understand that there are protocols that should be followed, but as in every other
body language analysis, nobody should jump to conclusions based on a single gesture.
That's silly, inappropriate and sometimes, even dangerous.
So, it was no wonder that this gesture was gonna make headlines.
But I have huge doubts that this was a publicity stunt.
Simply, because the Cambridges, and the royal family have nothing to gain from it, and in
fact, have a lot to lose just for attracting the wrong kind of attention.
And in that same line of thinking, given Tom's admiration for them, he would not have dared
to propose something that could do harm, or much less improvise something on the fly to
that effect.
And by the way, it was such a missed opportunity that William didn't pitch Catherine for a
gig in Hollywood.
As for me, I would love to see her in the next Mission: Impossible movie.
But of course, such a proposal would have been really bad manners.
It's no wonder that if you're in the spotlight, you'll be constantly scrutinized in this way.
But it really pays off to be able to decipher these hidden body language signals, so you
will know exactly what is happening.
And I'll be here to spot those secret clues, whenever they happen.
You can always help me spot topics to analyze, following and tagging me on my Instagram account.
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.