Prince George, eight, joined Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to watch the England v Wales Six Nations rugby match in Twickenham on February 26. After watching a video of George entering the stadium with his parents, a body language expert revealed the true meaning behind the young Prince’s facial expressions.
Jesús Enrique Rosas, also known as The Body Language Guy on YouTube, shared how Prince George’s facial expressions at Twickenham “can be very helpful to understand the right way to read emotions on children”.
He stressed that the way adults and children express their emotions, especially in their faces, “can be really different”.
Many children can be misunderstood because people may interpret their facial expressions incorrectly, according to Jesús.
At first glance, George looks bored, unimpressed, or even sad on entry to the English stadium, but Jesús claimed otherwise.
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He said: “Anyone can make a very common mistake of trying to read children’s faces like they were adults, when it’s obvious that emotional states are far more complex in us and children process the world around them differently.”
The body language expert went on to admit that George “looks a bit bored, not impressed, or a mixture of different emotions”, but he added that, as adults, “we feel the need to classify emotions”.
Therefore, if there is an emotion an adult doesn’t recognise, they are likely to jump to conclusions.
“Children just absorb the world as it comes to them,” Jesús said.
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“They are trying to make sense of everything as they go along – they are actively trying to make sense of the world.”
While doing this, Jésus said children “are going to be in a constant display of wonder”, and therefore, their facial expression will “most probably be a neutral expression”.
This, according to Jesús, is what George was displaying at Twickenham.
But, it is an expression that can be misunderstood because adults “have a real problem with neutral expressions”.
Jesús explained: “In most countries, as soon as two adults meet, there is going to be some kind of mutual and conscious acknowledgement – maybe a smile, maybe a nod.
“That’s why when an adult stumbles upon the neutral expression of a child – something that is much more common than you think – it would be like making sense of a Rorschach test.
“That’s why you saw George’s face and instantly began to assume that he had this or that emotion.
“The emotion you ‘saw’ in George when I played this clip was most probably a projection of your own emotions or how you’d react to a moment like this.
“This is old-fashioned projection,” Jesús added.
“Maybe you thought this is a face of a spoiled child.”
The body language expert claimed that “even outgoing children who like to smile will spend a lot of time with a neutral face”.
“Especially boys – they can be really hard to read well into their teenage years, and sometimes even as adults,” he said.
George’s body language inside the stadium was interesting too, according to Jesús.
The young royal is seen looking up at his mother while she sings the English national anthem.
“George is taking quick peeks in Catherine’s direction – he is checking how she reacts to the world at that moment so he can reinforce his own way of reacting,” Jesús said.
He added: “It is really important that the child feels reassured of his parents’ reactions.”
