Alert: There Are Photos Of Will & Kate Cuddling! In! Public!!!
Try to remain calm here, but Prince William and Kate Middleton's body language in Ireland is literally the most affection fans have seen from them in actual years. It's very much G-rated... but still. The royals rarely touch. Even during their wedding kiss (see below), they gave each other a chaste peck with their torsos pretty much as far apart as humanly possible. So, imagine my surprise and delight when these two lovebirds strolled through a gorgeous field on the March 4 stop on their Ireland tour with their arms wrapped around each other? Conservatively, let me tell you: This was a! Big! Deal!
While there isn't any sort of rule against PDA among the British royal family, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have reportedly set a precedent that the majority of their children and grandchildren have chosen to follow. "The Queen rarely holds hands with her husband in public and this seems to have set an unwritten precedent for the other royals," body language expert Robin Kermode explained to the Daily Mail in 2017. While Harry and Meghan chose to stray from the precedent, William and Kate have notoriously followed suit by keeping a respectable physical distance from each other most of the time.
I mean, this is incredibly sweet and romantic, but fairly tame, as far as wedding kisses go.
So, brace yourself for a 180. Ready for this? Traci Brown, body language expert and author of Persuasion Point: Body Language and Speech for Influence, breaks down their romantic stroll.
They're holding on to each other tight.
"This one is so cute," says Brown of the adorable and totally unprecedented cuddling picture. "There's no space between them and she's hanging on to him pretty tightly... and I don't think it's because she's worried about falling off the cliff!"
These two just can't keep their arms off each other!
Just when you thought things couldn't get any better, now the royal couple is in step and arm-in-arm.
Even when they're not touching, they're totally in sync.
See how it seems like each of them is putting their left foot forward? That's a pretty fantastic sign. "Great couples match each other's movements and walk in step," says Brown. "And that's what we're seeing from them. It's deeply unconscious and a good indicator of a relationship."
They have good banter.
Don't you want to love someone who makes you smile that wide? "There's nothing wrong with a smile as big as hers," says Brown. "We don't see her eyes smiling as much, so I'm guessing she's kidding him about something."
If their body language alone wasn't convincing you that the two were feeling extra loved up during this trip, allow me to point your direction toward their words.
Angela Moran, a woman from Westport, County Mayo, told Town & Country she spoke to William while holding a banner commemorating his 2011 wedding with Kate. “He asked about the flag,” she told Town & Country of the encounter. “I said to him that I really admired him and Catherine and he said thank you very much. I said I love her and he said, ‘I do, too. Nice of you to say so.’”
Gotta love it.
