Prince William ‘choreographed’ COP26 speech with 'repeat rituals'

A body language expert recently shed some light on Prince William’s overwhelming repeat rituals during the course of his COP26 speech.

Body language expert Judi James broke it all down during her interview with Femail and was quoted saying, "William’s verbal and non-verbal style as he delivered his powerful speech yesterday were unarguably different from his normal delivery.”

“His gesticulation was more pronounced and he seemed to speak with a new sense of purpose and even bounce.”

“Looking at William’s body language on the build-up to his speech it appears that his levels of nerves and anxiety were higher than normal.”

For his personal relief during the high stakes speech, Ms James claims Prince William used “several repeat rituals of clothing checking and self-touch that are more extreme than usual.”

“These types of 'performer nerves' are common with professional speakers and performers and rarely prevent a cracking speech on stage, but they do suggest that William is still suffering from 'butterflies' rather than raised levels of confidence.”

She also added, “William’s gestures were congruent and rather modest in terms of their message and tone, with no apparent attempt to big himself up in front of a global audience or act like a guru. If anything he was keen to direct praise and attention onto his 15 Earthshot Prize finalists.”

William wasn’t doing any global status-raising then, but there were several hints to suggest he had been doing some serious training for this important speech.”

“He spoke more quickly than usual but without losing any accuracy. His diction and enunciation were incredibly better than usual but without sounding over-careful.”