A royal expert has given a damning four-word reaction to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Christmas card.
The couple unveiled their seasonal card, providing a glimpse into the lives of their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and their travels this year.
Among the six photos is one capturing a family moment, with Harry and Meghan reaching out for an embrace as their kids race towards them.
Yet, despite being an endearing family moment, body language expert Judi James said the picture of the couple with their children looked “like a paparazzi photo”.
She told the Mirror: “Harry and Meghan’s card was primarily corporate, a ‘Round Robin’ update on the duo’s best bits of the year with each carefully selected and collected pose and each photo looking like a PR exercise to show them in their ideal state in terms of glitteringly successful, caring, loving, passionate and global.
“It is us gazing at them rather than a personalised message of good tidings with them looking at the camera and therefore us. This creates a state of admiring them from a distance rather than knowing them or feeling warm bonds.
“Their picture with their children sees Archie and Lilibet from back view only and shot from the kind of distance that makes it look ironically like a paparazzi photo.
“Their message is one of indulgent, besotted and very even-balanced parenthood but there is no attempt to share their children with the public here.”
In contrast, Judi believes Prince William and Princess Kate’s Christmas card conveys a more intimate message.
She said: “With William and Kate’s card we have a facing the camera, close up view of what looks like very open and honestly shared emotions from both parents and children.
“This is the family image we saw in Kate’s video update of her illness and the body language here is nuanced and complex enough to gently hint at everything they have been going through.
“Charlotte is seen with protective arms around her mother and brother, almost clinging them together. William holds his arm around Louis, but his hand is gently cupping Kate’s thigh.
“Kate’s rituals also look protective as she places one arm around her children with the other reaches for her husband and younger son.
“While Harry and Meghan have quite understandably decided to create a distance in terms of family reveals and allow their desire for privacy to dominate the photo they chose, William and Kate seem to have treated the public like members of their own family and shared their smiles and emotions with us.”
