Meghan Markle's body language shows she is in charge of relationship

Meghan Markle's body language shows she is in charge of relationship

Prince Harry can't believe his luck with his Hollywood bride-to-be, according to a body language expert. 

Dr Judi James says the flame-haired royal's non-verbal signals on a visit to Belfast inNorthern Ireland yesterday showed he was finding Meghan Markle 'distracting' - but was clearly enjoying the attention.

The behavioural expert said the trip showed a change in the power dynamic between the couple with the usually-camera confident Miss Markle looking to her beau instead to make the leading move.  

In earlier visits, Dr James said Miss Markle appeared more at home with the cameras and would subtlety choreograph their visits

Yesterday however it was the Prince initiating conversations with the public and officials as Meghan often found herself gazing up at him and taking a back seat.  

In a series of photographs taken over the course of their day-long tour of the Irish city, the Suits star appears to struggle to keep her eyes from the Prince in what has been described as 'intense eye gazing'.

Analysing Prince Harry's response, Dr James said he looked at though he was struggling to concentrate but was also very much enjoying it - with his cheeks 'rounded' into a smile. 

She said his body language showed he 'couldn't believe his luck'.  

Dr James said this is a new stance for Miss Markle: ‘This is something we haven’t seen her do before. Her body language is evolving as the wedding gets nearer.

‘This technique is called intense eye grazing, it would normally be used as an active listening signal.

‘It is used to flatter the person speaking. You see a lot of it in America but it’s not a particularly strong trait in the UK. This kind of eye contact is at risk of putting someone off their stride while they are speaking, she is also doing it at very close quarters.'

She said: ‘In the UK, this amount of eye contact and head closeness would normally only be used in the lead up to a kiss so it would be very difficult for Harry to continue to speaking.

‘It would be massively distracting, through in a good way as she is clearly flirting with him. He is clearly enjoying it. She looks stunning, he is just trying to go about his normal role and duties and it is almost making him laugh.

‘To be honest it almost looks as though he can’t quite believe his luck and managed to pull her in the first place and is now getting this level of intense eye contact and attention from her.

When you look at him compared to her, he is just wearing a jacket and a jumper it is not the most glamorous look but here there is this leading Hollywood actress who is stunning and gazing up at him, you can see his cheeks rounding slightly and he’s probably blushing.

Dr James added: ‘This trait in American is very commonly used by high status presidential couples out in public. It was first adopted by Nancy Regan.

When asked if it was natural or conscious by Meghan, James said: ‘I don’t think it is natural, it’s a new phrase of body language she is moving into.

‘The big thing about Meghan is she has always been quite dominant in the duo, she has always been more at home in front of the cameras and in interview situations than Harry.

‘But now we are seeing quite submissive body language. To the waiting audience, this makes him look very heroic, like a besotted fan.

‘It may be that as the wedding is getting closer, she is bigging him up and making him look like the star.’ 

They have been touring Britain ahead of their May wedding. In keeping with royal visits to Northern Ireland the itinerary was not disclosed for security reasons. 

Details of Harry and Meghan’s wedding have been released snippet by snippet via the Kensington Palace Twitter account.

Prior to the wedding, Meghan will be baptised and confirmed as a member of the Church of England.

Ms Markle began her UK tour with Harry in Nottingham a few days after their engagement announcement at the end of November last year.

In Brixton, the historic home of London's Caribbean community, Meghan and Harry visited a local community centre, then they travelled to Cardiff, with the US actress getting an introduction to Welsh culture.

Edinburgh welcomed the coupled who visited the city's historic castle and they also toured Birmingham.

Harry visited Northern Ireland last November when he opened a new ambulance station in Ballymena, County Antrim and also visited Belfast and Hillsborough Castle, County Down. 

When asked about the power dynamic in the relationship, Dr James said: 'She definitely has him wrapped around her finger. She tends to choreograph what they do, though very subtlety.

‘She has developed a trait when they started doing meet and greets, where she started to use self-diminishing body language poses such as touching her hair or shielding her face. I think that