Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were showing their "unity" as a couple when they attended the premiere of a new film about Bob Marley in Jamaica this week, a body language expert has said.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a surprise trip to Kingston and were photographed with Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness at the screening of the film celebrating the late reggae singer's life. They also posed with Jamaica's minister of legal and constitutional affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte and took pictures with Paramount Pictures chief executive Brian Robbins at the Carib 5 cinema in the capital.
Meghan, 42, wore a long, black A-line gown with gold earrings and had her hair in a slicked-back bun, while Harry, 39, was dressed in a dark suit and open-necked white shirt. They were often seen holding hands - and this was described by body language expert Judi James as "an ongoing gesture of unity".
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Ms James told the Daily Mail that the pair's body language appears to show that they aim to define themselves as "an ongoing power couple" and, at the same time, a romantic one. The expert noted: "It's careful and elegant-looking rather than a more spontaneous hugging gesture, meaning it seems to be aimed at defining them as an ongoing power couple as well as a romantic couple.
Oprah Winfrey snubs Harry and Meghan as expert claims 'the tide has turned'"There is one rather sweet moment between Harry and Meghan when they part to walk on and Meghan brushes a hand down her dress and Harry mirrors and copies the gesture with his own outfit as though quietly taking his cue from her."
She continued: "When they pose together for the cameras though there is a telling gesture from Meghan. As Harry stands smiling in the line-up, Meghan stands with her torso turned in his direction but her head and eyes turned to the cameras."
The expert added that Harry's "arm is around her back and her hand is carefully placed on his torso, flattened and with fingers pointing upward. Her eyes are softened and narrowed in a display sign to the cameras of loving affection, while that hand seems placed in a very celebrity way to signal proud ownership, in a 'he's mine' signal."
The biopic will be released in February and stars British actors Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley and Lashana Lynch as his wife, Rita. Harry travelled to Jamaica in 2012 representing his grandmother, the late Queen, during a celebratory Diamond Jubilee tour.
The overseas trip was hailed a resounding success, with Harry sprinting with Olympic 100m champion Usain Bolt and dancing to Marley's music in Kingston. He showed off a talent for diplomacy by hugging and holding hands with then-Jamaican prime minister Portia Simpson-Miller just hours after she repeated her intention to hold a referendum to remove Elizabeth II as head of state.
Meghan married her first husband, film producer Trevor Engelson, on a beach in Jamaica 2011, with the couple divorcing less than two years later. The former Suits star also wrote on her now-defunct lifestyle blog that her mother took her to visit the slums of Jamaica when she was 10 to teach her about the "harsh realities" of life.