She added that Harry’s jovial behaviour was ‘disruptive’ to Meghan’s pre-planned ‘choreography’.
‘Harry is talking and entertaining and pretty much on a roll, and Meghan’s gesture interrupts that conversation to appear to remind him where he should be going and who he needs to be meeting,’ she explained.
‘Meghan’s instinct seems to be to take the lead here and steer him back on track with a parental-looking ritual.
‘It could initially have been a nudge to Harry to include her in the new scene but, as she gets ignored, she instead walks away, using the hand to appear to try to redirect him instead.’
It was in this moment that Harry appeared to deviate from his usual ‘air of submission and compliance’.
The prince’s response, or indeed lack thereof, when Meghan seeks to grab his attention via a ‘soft control gesture’ is rather ‘telling’, added Ms James.
She added: ‘As a single guy working the crowds alone pre-marriage, he would be unused to being interrupted and steered.
‘Instead of tuning into his wife during what could be a challenging royal tour, he seems to have this moment of “tuning out” that could suggest, rather than an air of submission and compliance, he enjoys the playful, disruptive child role.’
The Duchess’s ‘instinct’ to keep her husband publicly ‘on track’ is somewhat unsurprising given her former acting career, which required her to follow a crafted script.
Acutely aware of the camera and the importance of maintaining a polished performance, Ms James noted that Meghan’s acting stint meant she will now carefully consider how best to ‘get everything right’.
Yet while Harry’s ‘spontaneity’ was once a ‘strong and constant feature’ of his body language during his bachelor days, this has seemingly shifted since his 2018 marriage.
Despite leaving their royal duties behind, Harry and Meghan’s Colombian trip was somewhat reminiscent of a royal engagement and was even dubbed a ‘quasi-royal’ or ‘faux-royal’ tour.
During the four-day trip, the Sussexes visited a local school and attended a summit in collaboration with their Archewell Foundation about creating a healthier digital landscape.
The pair also paid tribute to the contributions of Afro-Colombian women, leaders and entrepreneurs, and Harry participated in a game of volleyball while visiting Colombian Invictus Games athletes in Bogota.
Yet while Team Sussex hailed the trip as a ‘great triumph’, it was certainly not without controversy.
Shortly after the couple returned to Montecito, it was revealed that the trip had cost the Colombian government an eye-watering Col$244,245,305 (£44,725.14), according to figures provided by the country’s vice-president, Francia Marquez.
Among the amounts cited was a £7,500 security cost for engagements held in San Basilio de Palenque.
Meanwhile, Meghan was also reported to have spent £90,000 on clothing and jewellery alone during the so-called ‘DIY Royal Tour’.
In reference to the vast expenditure of the trip, Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal, Ms Marquez’s political opponent, branded the quasi-royal tour as both ‘showmanship’ and ‘wasteful spending’.
The reported security costs were also said to have enraged many locals, given the country’s socio-economic problems, with a third of the population estimated to be living below the poverty line.
In response to the criticism, the Colombian vice-president’s office later confirmed that the Duke and Duchess paid for their own flights and accommodation, as well as unspecified general expenses.
