A body language expert has studied footage of Harry and Meghan during a 20-minute service to honour The Queen at Westminster Hall on Wednesday, September 15, after the pair appeared to break formation. The expert says the move appeared to be a "desperately important re-coupling".
As the Queen's coffin left Buckingham Palace for the final time to begin the period of Lying in State at Westminster Hall, a service led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and accompanied by the Dean of Westminster began. The Mirror reported that during the service, members of the Royal Family stood in formation facing the coffin on its purple-covered catafalque, which was flanked with a tall, yellow flickering candle at each corner of the wide scarlet platform. The King and Queen Consort stood at the front, followed by the Queen's children, then Prince William and his wife Kate - the new Prince and Princess of Wales - and Harry and Meghan.
Once the short service was over and the Queen's relatives left the hall. The Sussexes were one of the few royal couples to hold hands after both had bowed and curtsied to the coffin. According to body language expert Judi James, their hand holding gesture was very noticeable and one it appeared they needed.
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Judi told the Mirror: "Inside the service the wives joined their husbands, but again the large spatial distances looked deliberate to create an air of formality. They all lined behind the coffin with maybe two pace-sized gaps between them and no passing of any glances or non-verbal signals. Andrew stood alone, rigidly to attention."
She continued: "As the couples filed out they seemed to keep to this formation apart from Harry and Meghan, who moved closer and stretched their arms across the gap to hold hands in a mutual re-linking gesture. They used their clasped hands as a method of offering support, comfort and reassurance to each other and, walking behind William and Kate and presumably on the brink of a moment when chat might be near, the re-coupling appeared to be desperately important to them."
Earlier today, King Charles III and his three siblings, Andrew, Anne and Edward and the Queen's grandsons Peter Phillips, William and Harry, who stood shoulder to shoulder, escorted the late Queen's coffin from Buckingham Palace.
Also taking part in the procession were Anne's husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Earl of Snowden - Princess Margaret's son - and the Duke of Gloucester - a cousin of the Queen.
Harry and William were previously separated by their cousin and Princess Anne's son, Peter, as they walked behind Prince Philip's coffin at his funeral in April last year. But the formation suggested there may have been a thawing in relations between the brothers, according to Judi
She added: "The royals were as choreographed as the Red Arrows throughout the procession and service, with the Queen’s children in the front line and William, Harry and Peter Philips walking behind them with a large spatial gap between William and Harry as William walked behind his father and Harry filled the middle gap.
"Peter was not in between the brothers this time, suggesting further thawing of their relationship, but there was no possibility of any communication between them or any of the other royals."
The Queen's coffin will now remain at Westminster Hall until the monarch's funeral on Monday. Up to 400,000 people are expected to brave the queues to catch a glimpse of the historic event as The Queen lies in state.
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