Prince William body language analysed as he talks about Princess Diana’s bulimia battle

Prince William, 34, met Mark Austin, 58, and his daughter Maddy, 17, in Kensington Palace on Channel 4 documentary Wasting Away: The Truth About Anorexia.

William told them: “The fact you are speaking out is incredibly brave, but it should become very normal.”

Princess Diana is known to have suffered from bulimia, so this is an issue very close to the Prince’s heart.

Opening up about his views on mental health the Prince said: “I really hope that George and Charlotte (his two children) can grow up in a world where mental health is normalised and we can all talk about this very open and honestly, and the fact we can talk about stuff and it’s not a weakness, it’s an illness and is spoken about just like a broken leg, can we get it fixed?”

TV body language expert and author of The Body Language Bible Judi James analysed Prince William’s body language on the touching television programme.

“It was clear from Prince William’s body language in his rather touching appearance on Mark Austen’s documentary about anorexia that he wasn’t just speaking as a royal ambassador but as someone who has personally suffered the pain of feeling ‘helpless about people you love most in life’,” Judi said.

William’s personal experience and his empathy was revealed through a series of body language expressions. 

He mimicked his mother Princess Diana during his talk with Maddy, using an eye-widening gesture that his mother often performed, according to Judi.

She said: “We absorb many of our gestures and facial expressions from our parents and as William spoke to Mark’s daughter his eyes widened and rounded in a way that was clearly similar to Diana’s sympathetic signals in a caring role.

“His mother was able to use her own problems and experiences to offer empathetic help and in this role as he spoke to Maddy William used subconscious mimicry to get the same caring messages across.”

A number of actions showed William’s personal pain we it comes to discussing the issue of eating disorders. He displayed the helplessness and anxiety caused by having a loved one who is struggling with mental health disorders. 

Judi said: “When he spoke about the ‘slippery slope’ that eating disorders can go down he mimed the slope with his hands, followed by a shoulder-shrug of helplessness and an anxious picking gesture with his hand.”

William’s emotions resonated with Mark Austin, who mirrored his gestures.

She said: “He mentioned not knowing what to do at the time and his eyes moved to a gaze associated with recalled memory as he shook his head and performed a partial, truncated gesture to place both hands on his chest. 

“A flat-hand chest pat can suggest power but William only touched his chest with the fingertips of one hand, suggesting a sense of powerlessness. This clearly resonated with Mark who precisely mirrored both the chest-touch gesture and William’s raised brows and wide eyes at this point.”

A number of Prince William’s gestures revealed the anger that he may have felt dealing with his mother’s eating disorder as a younger person.

Judi said: “William used two strong signals of anger and frustration when he spoke about the pain of eating disorders. When he mentioned how it ‘festers’ his face contorted in a micro-gesture of anger and after he talked about the ‘slippery slope’ he performed a small tongue-poke, with the tip of his tongue appearing from the front of his lips. 

“This is a gesture often associated with rejection and even disgust.”

Prince William still struggles to open up about his past, demonstrates by his body language, Judi claims.

“Despite his willingness to talk openly about problems that must have been very personal to him, William used two barrier gestures to suggest a desire to guard or protect himself, suggesting he is still struggling with opening up in detail,” she said. 

“He laid his right arm along the arm of the chair between himself and his guests and as he spoke his right hand was held splayed with the palm facing his torso.”

The Prince and Kate gave a joint interview after their engagement in 2010. What does their body language tell us about the romance?