Prince Harry Performs ‘Never-Before-Seen-Gesture’ During South African Trip Without Meghan

Find out what gesture the Duke of Sussex was seen doing during his trip abroad that a body language expert has never seen him do before.

Prince Harry has been everywhere lately. Since late September, the Duke of Sussex has been making appearances in different parts of the world. He attended several events in New York City before traveling to London for a function and then headed to Africa. All of these trips have been solo appearances, as he is not traveling with his wife, Meghan Markle.

Harry has been out and about trying to improve his reputation after recent polls show that his popularity has slipped quite a bit over the last few years. During his visit to Africa, the duke met with a few other royals as well as local Sentebale leaders and performed a gesture one body language expert says they have never seen him do before.

Here’s more on that and the other royal Harry met with while overseas.

The ‘never-before-seen gesture’ an expert saw Prince Harry make and what it means

Darren Stanton is a body language and behavioral expert with a degree in psychology. He previously worked as a police officer and used his expertise to uncover the truth when interviewing hundreds of suspects. He later moved into media and TV as a consultant and has been dubbed the “Human Lie Detector.”

The expert observed Harry making a certain gesture he hasn’t seen the duke do in the past that shows he feels “in control.”

Speaking on behalf of Betfair Bingo, Stanton explained: “When we saw Harry sitting by the bonfire speaking about his charity, you could instantly tell how comfortable he felt speaking about what he’s most passionate about. We saw him making a specific hand gesture during his conversation — which we hadn’t seen before.

“We saw him do a karate chop movement, which suggests he felt completely in control and nothing could get in the way of that. His levels of confidence were through the roof, and we have never seen him appear to be so certain of himself. Harry has come leaps and bounds in terms of believing in himself and his confidence in what he can achieve independently without reassurance.”

Harry has a ‘strong rapport’ with another prince

While things haven’t been great over the past few years between Prince Harry and some of his royal family members, mainly his brother Prince William, the duke has a good rapport with another prince.

During his visit, Harry met with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. In one photo, they are seen grinning alongside each other while Harry holds onto his arm.

According to Stanton, “It didn’t look forced or disingenuous from either side. This suggests Harry and the prince have a strong rapport. It would be obvious if the prince didn’t reciprocate those high levels of trust with Harry. Another giveaway that they felt genuinely happy in each other’s company was looking closely at their facial expressions. They were grinning from ear to ear — proving their smiles were genuine and natural. From this appearance, it’s clear Harry is in a very good place. He wants to make people proud and just help people in whatever way he can.”

Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.