Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s last royal Christmas in the UK was “staged” and cracks began to show according to one royal expert. The pair have not spent Christmas at Sandringham since 2018 and now an expert claims they gave a series of “powerful clues” that all was not well in their relationship with the Royal Family during their last festive period in the UK.
In 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took their son Prince Archie to spend Christmas in America with Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland before leaving the Royal Family in 2020.
During that last Christmas in 2018, the Sussexes greeted well-wishers at Sandringham’s St Mary Magdalene Church alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton.
But one body language expert said the couple showed that all was not well with them and the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Expert Judi James told the Mirror it was not “obvious” that the pair would leave their royal duties at the time, but said they did leave clues.
She said: “There were subtle but powerful underlying clues that the rift between the two couples was anything but just a rumour here.
“In fact the opposite looked true, this had all the hallmarks of being a planned, choreographed ‘denial’ pose of the kind celebrity couples adopt when there are rumours of a marriage breakdown.
“At the time it was assumed that it was Kate and Meghan who had the beef and so the job of looking as though they could play together nicely seemed to have been placed firmly in poor Kate’s lap.”
During the walk, Princess Kate stepped away from her husband to chat to Meghan, which Ms James said was “nothing but staged”.
She added: “The camera was directly in front of the foursome and as they walked into view Kate was the one making the effort, uncoupling from William to step across very obviously to chat and smile ‘happily’ with Meghan.
“William and Harry had no eye contact and no connection at all here. While the cameras were obsessed with Kate and Meghan’s body language together the frost between the two brothers barely got a mention though because they were still seen as an unbreakable sibling double act.
“Kate’s smile as she chatted to Meghan looked very complex for a woman who normally performs uncomplicated, pitch-perfect smiles. We can see a double puckering of her cheek, suggesting her muscles were battling to produce a mouth smile that might have been in conflict with her inner emotions.”
Ms James also noted how Meghan “did not respond to Kate’s detachment ritual with any of her own”.
She said: “She clung onto Harry’s bicep with a firm grip, making it look as though Kate was an interruption. She also held her bag and her gloves as a barrier gesture in her hand closest to Kate, while Kate’s inner hand was free and gesticulating.”
Meanwhile, the body language expert said Prince William “appeared to be cut off from the whole thing”.
Ms James added: “He was wrapped in a big scarf and he’d stuffed his hands in his pockets. In contrast, Harry looked determined to socialise with the fans lining the route, which gave the message that he was still seeing himself as an active and popular royal with apparently no thought of quitting.”
