In case you haven’t noticed, the royalists have spent the past year trying to make one particular talking point happen: Prince Harry is now “Meghan’s Spare.” As in, Meghan is the star, and Harry is the supporting player to his wife, just as he was intended to be the supporting player to his incandescent brother for the entirety of both of their lives. This whole “Harry is Meghan’s Spare” conversation is couched in toxic masculinity, because it’s based on the idea that it’s somehow unmanly for Harry to love and support his wife, and it’s unmanly to enjoy being a husband and father in a marriage of equals. Harry has repeatedly spoken on the record of his support for Meghan and all of her ventures, telling People Magazine just last week that “I am so happy for my wife and fully support everything she’s done.” Alas, Harry’s own words are no match for the Daily Mail’s body language analysts, who magically parrot the royalists’ “spare” talking points.

Meghan Markle took centre stage at a New York summit yesterday – leaving Prince Harry assuming the role of ‘spare’ once again, a body language expert has claimed. The Duke of Sussex was said to have ‘directed camera attention’ towards his wife as she arrived in a Ralph Lauren suit at the Time 100 Summit in New York City.

Upon their arrival earlier on, Harry chaperoned his wife from their private car as she walked in – before also being around to greet her at the end of her stint on stage. While some might have considered Harry to be merely adopting the role of doting husband, body language expert Judi James has since pointed out ‘awkwardness’.

Ms James told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview: ‘Whether Harry’s leading or lurking here he appears to be in the role of ‘spare,’ displaying some awkward-looking body language poses while a more assured Meghan takes the starring role.’

Analysing their arrival, Ms James said: ‘By the time they’re arriving for the greetings it seems to be Meghan very much in the lead while Harry lurks behind. Meghan uses one key non-verbal cue or tell here to elevate her celebrity or star status. While her arms are bent at a 45-degree angle, her hands adopt a ‘celebrity wilt’, dangling from her bent wrists. This is a gesture that suggests a form of specialness. It’s also called the ‘broken wing’ gesture and although it suggests physical weakness or vulnerability it reflects status power as in ‘I don’t need my hands as I have people to open my doors and tow me along’.’

Ms James continued: ‘It’s Meghan who works the cameras here and instigates the gracious-looking hugs of friendship. Harry waits his turn in a way that would have been unthinkable during his time in the royal family. His jacket hangs open and his expression is more intense and less radiant than his wife’s.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Usually, I ignore the Fail’s body-language analysts, but I just wanted to talk more about this attempt to turn “Meghan’s Spare” into a real thing. This is coming from the monarchy too, these are talking points being issued and discussed by courtiers. They cannot wrap their heads around Harry’s love and support for Meghan – it’s broken their brains that Harry doesn’t treat Meghan like sh-t or that he’s more important than her. Also, my body-language analysis says that Harry was acting as bodyguard/enforcer for Meghan, which is very “manly” in my book. As in, he was scanning their surroundings and doing his own threat assessment in real time. HOT.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.