Prince Harry’s ‘anxious’ body language at UN decoded by expert

A body language expert has claimed that Prince Harry was filled with ‘tension and anxiety’ during his visit to the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, July 18, to deliver a keynote speech for Nelson Mandela Day.

Expert Judi James talked to Mirror UK exclusively after Harry’s speech at the two-hour long meeting, breaking down and analysing Harry and his wife Meghan Markle’s body language; Meghan was seen supporting her husband with key gestures noted by experts like coddling his hand.

Talking about the same, James commented that Prince Harry appeared ‘tense’ at the General Assembly meeting, telling Mirror UK: “His style of delivery was more presidential than princely at the UN. His keynote was delivered in a sombre, slow, authoritative style that pitched him as the expert.”

“He didn’t back away from taking a ‘tell’ approach, even when it came to Mandela himself… But Harry’s underlying body language rituals suggested high levels of tension and anxiety underlying the confident and hard-hitting delivery.”

She went on to explain: “He arrived in the building performing a lengthy self-comfort/barrier ritual that involved a truncated gesture of appearing to button his jacket and he was still performing that truncated ritual once he stepped on stage and walked to the lectern.”

“An unfulfilled gesture like this is all about the feelings of self-comfort rather than the action itself. Prince Charles pats his pockets and fiddles with his cuffs while Harry pretended to button his jacket, fiddle with his tie and pat his stomach,” James went on.

“This allows both to raise their hands and arms in front of their torsos in a protective barrier, suggesting some nerves,” she added.

James also claimed that Prince Harry appeared to be ‘eager’ for the event to end, saying: “His trait of bouncing slightly on his feet suggested impatience to get things done as he lectured on the African crisis, the Ukraine war and climate change.”