The Duke of Sussex’s body language during the bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey showed “anger” and “resentment” towards his father, an expert said.
Harry accused the Prince of Wales of refusing to take his calls as he went public with his grievances about the royal family.
He revealed he and his father are estranged, adding: “I feel really let down.”
Author and body language expert Judi James told the PA news agency that while Harry showed “love” when discussing his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, he was “comprehensively” negative when it came to Charles.
“I think specifically what emerged was his anger about his father,” she said.
“He spoke with affection about the Queen, he spoke with love for his brother, William.
“But when his father was mentioned the dramatic pause lasting several seconds before he spoke kind of said everything, really.
“And that’s when he started to do the fast blinking. He sighed, he did a leg judder, he did a tongue poke.
“So that’s where probably the key focus of resentment seems to lie.”
Ms James said “there was no real effort to mask his (Harry’s) response” to Charles.
The expert said another key takeaway from the interview was how forceful Harry was.
Rather than a “tamed, surrendered male” being “dragged around” by Meghan, the duke was a “lot more assertive – he was very eloquent, very keen to talk”.
Ms James said: “Harry very much showed that he was pretty dominant. He didn’t come on as a sort of pet at the end.
“It was very comprehensive that he absolutely wanted to tell his story and nobody was forcing him to do it. I was very surprised and quite shocked by that.”
During the interview, Meghan recounted how she had suicidal thoughts as she struggled with life inside the royal family. Ms James said the duchess came across as “regal” and “elegant,” adding her emotions appeared genuine.
“She didn’t overact the emotions,” she said. “When you hear what she was telling us, we had one moment in the middle where she did cry, and I have to say, I know she’s an actress, but we saw the tears coming out of her eyes.
“And then her voice cracked, which is a pretty difficult call for an actress to simulate.”
Ms James said it was “interesting” that the couple told Winfrey much of their happy front during their time as working royals was an act, and they were in fact badly struggling.
However, she added it would be “20 times, at least, more difficult” to fake emotions during a sit-down, two-hour interview.
And their body language showed they are a secure couple, Ms James said.
She said: “They meshed their fingers together, so it was about as tight a handhold as you can get, and you could see them, one would be rubbing their thumb onto the other one’s hands, even within that hand clasp.
“But then towards the end, Harry’s hand was on top in the clasp. And he had kind of become more dominant in the interview.
“Very much proving that this wasn’t Meghan telling her story in the way that she wanted to – this was him, not just endorsing, but it was his story.”
