Prince Harry announced his plans to attend King Charles’s Coronation last week and has now made his first appearance since the news dropped. The Duke of Sussex appeared via video at an Invictus Games event in Berlin and even attempted to say a few phrases in German.
This is not the first time a royal has done this, as his father King Charles attended a banquet in Germany last month where he also spoke the language to a room of guests.
Judi James, a body language expert and voice analyst, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk to explain how Harry handled the potentially daunting moment, and if he appeared similar to his father.
She claimed: “Although we expect our world leaders to be bi- or even multi-lingual, our royals seem to have retained that quaint trait of speaking to people in their own language as though performing a minor miracle or even doing something funny.
“Harry especially has received a top-drawer education and lives an international lifestyle, but his half a dozen words of German here are delivered timidly and awkwardly.”
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King Charles, on the other hand, was “braver” according to the body language expert when he visited the country in person last month.
Judi explained: “His father makes a much braver stab at it and talks in German for longer.
“But even he skips the eye contact and vocal intonation and change of mouth shapes that might make it sound more accurate.”
The Duke performed a gesture with his shoulders, according to Judi, which showed how he was feeling inside whilst speaking the foreign language.
“First and foremost I would like to thank Prime Minister Wüst, members of parliament, Team Germany and all those gathered here tonight for your continued support. We are just 150 days away.”.
When learning German on a tour of New Zealand in 2015, Harry, who didn’t study the language in school, made fun of his inability to understand.
“I learned French at school but I’ve forgotten almost all of it. I’m sorry.
“I really wanted to learn Spanish, but my headmaster told me not to bother. I wish I could speak German,” the Prince said at the time.
