Even more than the rest of the Royal Family, the world constantly has its eyes on Prince William. And for good reason: William is the future King of England, and everything from his personal preferences to his body language may serve as an indicator of what kind of monarch he will be.
And when it comes to body language, one expert has noticed that the old Prince William may be gone forever. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: the new William seems more capable and confident, having outgrown some of the nervousness and even fake pleasantries that were a hallmark of the old prince. Just who is this body language expert, and exactly which secrets are hidden behind William’s body language? Keep reading to find out!
Darren Stanton is a man with some very unique talents. Specifically, he is a body language expert and behavioral expert with years of experience under his belt. And he recently sat down with Express to discuss some of what he has been seeing with Prince William’s body language, especially when it comes to the future king’s newfound surge of confidence.
According to Stanton, “We don’t see any of the old gestures from him that he previously displayed, which denoted a lack of confidence or feeling like a fish out of water.” And because William has been in the public eye for so long, it’s easy to compare the prince’s modern appearances to the ones he made when he was younger. “He’s a completely different person from when he first started public appearances as a youngster.”
One of the major themes of Stanton’s interview with Express is that Prince William has essentially been gaining momentum over the decades. Unlike most people, William was born knowing exactly what his destiny would be, and he’s had the entirety of his life to prepare for becoming king.
In Stanton’s eyes, all of that practice has really paid off. “Right now, I think Prince William is at the pinnacle of his strength, in terms of his non-verbal communication,” he said. And this likely spells good news for the people of England who will one day come under William’s rule: “he’s become ever-so more statesman-like in recent years.
At this point, we’d forgive you if you were questioning just how someone (even a body language expert) can tell that Prince William has gotten so much more confident and statesman-like. But as Darren Stanton told Express, it’s relatively easy to look at the nervous, “pacifying” gestures William made before and see that he no longer makes them.
Interestingly, the main gesture in question seems to be an inherited behavior. “We got these a lot with King Charles where he would put his hand inside his jacket,” he said. “If you look at historic footage from Prince William and, indeed, Prince Harry, you will see that William inherited this gesture from his father. William often made this gesture whilst doing any public engagements or standing on the balcony with the queen.
Now, William no longer really does this, just like he no longer nervously plays with his cufflinks in stressful situations. Ironically, the main reason for this might be that the prince has had to navigate one stressful situation after another, especially in recent years.
As Stanton noted to Express, we have a lot of game tape over the years showing Prince William making these nervous gestures in stressful situations. The stressful situations never exactly went away, but the gestures did: “Over the years he’s been placed in lots of social situations where anybody would probably feel a little bit anxious, however, we tend not see that gesture as of much now.”
While the body language expert didn’t say anything about Prince Harry, we can’t help but wonder if William’s royal rebel of a brother isn’t inadvertently behind some of William’s newfound confidence.
Everything from Harry’s whirlwind romance with Meghan Markle to his decision to step back from being a working royal and move to America (where he constantly stressed his brother out by spilling royal tea for the entire world in interviews, a memoir, and even on Netflix) has constantly kept William on the backfoot. Rather than make the future king weaker, though, Harry’s bad behavior may simply be a crucible that has made William that much stronger.
In Darren Stanton’s interview with Express, he pointed out that the pacifying gestures he mentioned before weren’t the only behaviors he inherited from his father. According to the body language expert, William has historically used a “fake smile” as his “mask” during various public engagements, which is something that King Charles has done quite a bit over the years.
The telltale sign of a fake smile, incidentally, is “‘crows feet’ at the side of the eyes.” Charles eventually outgrew doing this and now, it appears, has William. Among other things, this means the future king is now much happier: when you see him smile in public (something he often does in the presence of his wife and children), you can be sure that his joy is genuine.
