Prince William and Princess Kate recently attended the royal wedding of Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan, as did Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Both couples' appearances provided a great opportunity to observe how differently ranking royals act when attending official events—with William and Kate seeming to mean business, while Beatrice and Edo were able to put up a more lighthearted and loved-up front.
According to body language expert Judi James, these two very different attitudes are absolutely not surprising.
"There are two very different sets of body language here from two very different royal couples, separated by rank, duty and attitude," she explained to Express.
"Kate and William are probably one of the last royal couples to prefer a formal and non-tactile approach to their public appearances.
"They are totally capable of signaling love, affection and admiration but they do it via intense and often subliminal mirroring of each other.
"They also use subtle and rapid touches and the occasional gaze, often with William gazing at his wife in what looks like love tinged with awe."
Indeed, the royal spouses are often seen sweetly teasing or competing with each other, placing an affectionate hand on each other's backs, and holding hands. Kate once even playfully tapped her husband's butt, so it's clear the two have a wonderful time together even if they do it more subtly.
James also explained that the Waleses try to stay away from "soap-opera or celebrity-style interest," terms which are more so used to describe Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's behavior in public.
"As Harry and Meghan have discovered, the more intimate the tie signs and affectionate touches you use in public, the more interest you stir up and the more tempting hints you drop about your emotions and inner feelings," James said, adding that PDA can "seem to exclude the viewers" instead of fostering connections with whoever the Waleses are meeting with—in this case the wedding hosts.
"Another reason the subtler PDAs are a wise idea is that it bullet proofs the royal body language. Intense affection is great but what if, like all couples, they fall out, argue or go through a bad patch behind the scenes?" James continued, quite wisely.
"It can be less about what a royal couple does and more about what they stop doing because if those clasps, hugs and PDAs suddenly cease, the effect will be dramatic and telling."
With that said, William and Kate worried royal watchers at one point during their visit to Jordan, when the Prince of Wales was filmed saying "chop chop" to his wife as she was talking to the new bride for just seconds. So tenser-looking moments between royal couples can unfortunately also get people talking, even if they weren't what they seemed.
Meanwhile, "Beatrice and Edoardo happily tell a whole story via their sweet body language signals here though," Judi said about the couple's Jordanian visit.
"Arriving hand-in-hand their smiles look bashful and they seem to giggle together, looking very much like newlyweds.
"It’s cute and clearly romantic, but it would never work for Kate and William, who represent the crown as well as just acting like wedding guests and friends of the bride and groom."
Fair enough!
