She looked as poised and elegant as always as she walked the red carpet of the BAFTA Awards beside her husband, but beneath the surface Kate, the Princess of Wales was “terrified, startled and concerned”, a body language expert has revealed.
Kate and her husband, Prince William, had the eyes of the world trained on their every move as they made a joint appearance on February 22 – their first since the arrest of William’s uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Appearing at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Kate, 44, looked ethereal in a pink Gucci dress she previously wore back in 2019, while William was dapper in a black tuxedo.
“These are a couple who recognise the complete catastrophe that surrounds them, but know what they must do and deliver in a goosebump moment of professionalism few in the world could emulate,” Australian body language expert Dr Louise Mahler tells Womans’s Day.
“Perhaps anticipating the kind of heckling King Charles has received, they have never needed more of their skills than was required here.”
Indeed, the expert described Kate as looking “like a woman on her first public engagement” as she prepared for her red carpet appearance.
“Backstage, as she enters the venue, her eyes look heavy. They stare, not blinking and her arms are stiff,” Louise explains.
“She looks terrified, startled, concerned, but maintains her posture and composure while William bites his lip and turns his head towards her, oozing support and no doubt petrified that this will be the moment that may break her.”
Indeed, William himself alluded to the fact he was “not in a calm state” as he discussed the Oscar-nominated historical drama Hamnet at the event, explaining why he hadn’t yet watched it.
“I need to be in quite a calm state and I am not at the moment. I will save it,” he told reporters.
Kate, meanwhile, said she ended up with “puffy eyes” after viewing the film the previous weekend and finding it deeply emotional.
A lip reader has also claimed there were some tense moments between the couple, especially when a heckler asked whether “the monarchy is in peril”.
According to lip reader Jeremy Freeman, who spoke to Sky News, Kate attempted to divert attention, by saying to her husband: “Look at the people”.
But whilst William smiled at the crowds, he issued a three-word warning to his wife, Kate, telling her to “watch your step” as they made their way inside the Royal Festival Hall.
One thing is clear, however – emotions are running high for other reasons too.
It has emerged that Kate, William and their children Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, were at home just a few kilometres away when police descended on Sandringham Estate in a dawn raid on February 19 to arrest Andrew on his 66th birthday.
With Charles expressing his “deepest concern” and declaring “the law must take its course”, it’s understood that Kate and William are in full support of the King’s approach.
Their appearance at the BAFTAs as the Royal Family faces one of the biggest crises in its history clearly took its toll – with the couple’s body language offering up more clues as to their state of mind.
“Like the pinnacles of absolute professionalism they have shown us their whole life in the public eye, Kate girds herself with strength, turns to the audience and prepares to put on the show she knows she does so brilliantly, while William looks on with awe at her magnificence,” Louise explains.
“As they come to the stairs, the spotlight is on them and William is able to loosen the mouth slightly with a slender smile, while his right hand clenches and fiddles giving away enormous anxiety for this moment.
“Kate holds back a little, no doubt wishing to run, and uncharacteristically reaches for her hair as a sign of self placation.”
The expert explains that for a moment Kate “misdirects attention” by speaking to aides around her, something likely to help her “manage the situation with movement and banter”.
“Descending the stairs Kate looks left and right and, recognising a supporter, she smiles, as a sign of appreciation.
“But the moment is fleeting as her head turns back quickly glancing at the floor as a giveaway of the emotion she is feeling,” Louise goes on.
“This is an Academy Award performance of strength, emotion and professionalism.”
