How Prince William And Kate Middleton's Body Language Has Changed Through The Years

Prince William and Princess Catherine have long been touted as the royal family's most adorable couple. The pair had a rocky start to their relationship with palace officials and the press mocking Princess Catherine for her middle-class background, and partially as a result of these tensions, the young couple broke up twice. However, their time apart just made them stronger. As Catherine would later put it in their engagement interview with ITV News, "I think I, at the time, wasn't very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person — you find out things about yourself maybe you hadn't realized."

Eventually, William and Catherine tied the knot and welcomed three children, but their marriage was not all happily ever after. Since saying "I do" in 2011, the couple has faced a number of challenges, including Princess Catherine's heartbreaking cancer diagnosis and Prince William's beef with Prince Harry. These factors have led their body language to evolve over the years, and according to experts, the two have only grown closer with time.

In 2004, Princess Catherine was just a normal girl. She studied at the University of St. Andrews, took part in charity events, and oh, her boyfriend was Prince William — not that many people knew it for sure. At the time, William, who was also a student at St. Andrews, made a deal with the press; there was to be no media interference in his life and no coverage of his college shenanigans. This meant that it was difficult for the tabloids to confirm whether the rumors of a romance between William and a certain brunette were true, and William was free to date Catherine in relative peace. When William and Catherine went on a ski vacation that spring, however, everything changed.

The couple were photographed skiing downhill together in Klosters, Switzerland, and their chemistry was so electric, there was no denying the truth. William's body language was particularly exuberant as he looked at Catherine. She, in turn, seemed very comfortable by the prince's side. As royal expert Katie Nicholl put it in a piece for Vanity Fair, "As the T-bar arrived, William helped Kate on, and they glided up the steep mountain, ski poles in their hands. The shot of William gazing lovingly at Kate that was published in The Sun newspaper on April 1, 2004, was no April Fools' joke." The cat was out of the bag.

At first Prince William and Princess Catherine's relationship seemed like it was off to a good start. However, as things grew more serious between the pair, Catherine wanted some guarantee of a long-term commitment. This proved challenging for William, who had already witnessed King Charles III and Princess Diana's troubled marriage and hoped to avoid a similar fate. Catherine presented William with an ultimatum — if he couldn't take their relationship at her pace, she was out.

According to royal expert, Katie Nicholl, William had a hard time reacting to Catherine's posture. He asked her to accompany him to the 2007 Cheltenham Races, but as the event unfolded, the prince found himself stewing over his options. Writing for Vanity Fair, Nicholl explained, "Their body language spoke volumes. Walking several steps ahead of Kate, William, his head cast down and his hands dug in his pockets, was deep in thought." Photos of Catherine at the races, meanwhile, showed her looking a bit blue. Because of this public display of distance, royal watchers were hardly shocked when William broke up with Catherine shortly thereafter.

Just because Prince William and his girlfriend, Princess Catherine, split up, didn't mean the two were able to move on. Following the break-up, Catherine famously went clubbing in London to show William how well she was doing without him. If she had a point to prove, it hit home. In June 2007 — after just two months apart — the pair got back together.

However, Catherine was still understandably hurt by their separation and made a very strong point of taking things slow. That July, William and Catherine both attended the Concert for Diana — although the prince was seated just a few rows ahead of his girlfriend. Perhaps in an effort to show Catherine that he didn't need any sort of closeness, William made a big show of enjoying the concert on his own. He clapped his hands, danced, and reacted loudly to the performance.

Commenting on this situation, body language expert Judi James told Express, "There is the strong hint that William is trying to boast to Kate that he is relishing his freedom and is capable of having the most fun time without her." We think William did protest too much.

Eventually, things between Princess Catherine and Prince William grew serious. When William graduated from the Royal Air Force in 2008, he invited Catherine to support him on his big day. The significance of this invitation was not lost on Catherine, who sensed things progressing between the two. Because of this, body language expert Judi James said that the future princess was likely feeling a bit nervous. 

"She displays all the nonverbal symptoms of a girl with something of a crush," James told the Daily Mail. Later, the nonverbal communication specialist added, "Kate, who is so obviously in love, might have been quietly hoping that William would be seeing a future with her in it now. This could be partly why Kate's body language responses and behaviors here look so very much from the teenage playbook."

Although Catherine may have been feeling a bit insecure in her romantic relationship, William's body language showed that she had nothing to worry about. James also explained that Catherine's movements toward William — and the way he received them — demonstrated their chemistry. "The gestures from her here are rewarding viewing because they provide a big hint and confirmation of the mutual and very deep levels of attraction between herself and William," James revealed.

On November 16, 2010, Prince William and Princess Catherine officially announced their engagement in a press conference held at Clarence House. The official announcement came almost a month after William had popped the question on a romantic getaway in Kenya. Both William and Catherine seemed to be looking forward to a life together. However, that same day, when they sat down with journalist, Tom Bradby, for an interview, the pair seemed a bit on edge.

Commenting on the engagement interview, body language expert Judi James told Express, "We can see there are signs of tension from Kate. Kate's family is mentioned [in the interview] and this seems to make her more nervous than actually speaking about the royals." Of course, there might have been a reason for the future princess' concern. Once the press got wind of her romance with William, paparazzi began harassing her parents. By getting engaged to the prince, Catherine may have been worried that her family would suffer increasingly more invasions to their privacy.

Prince William and Princess Catherine were never going to have a normal romance. Because William has always been destined to become King of England, it was understood that his future partner would become an important figure in the monarchy, as well. Thus, Catherine's first few walkabouts came with a lot of expectations. William needed to prove that he had chosen the right person to become queen. Catherine, in turn, had to show that she was deserving of the role. The pressure was on.

As body language expert Judi James explained in an interview with The Sun, "During their formal and rather stilted engagement appearances where a linking of arms was the only PDA, the worry was that William had tried so hard to find the perfect future queen that he's settled and scrimped on the passion." Making matters worse, Catherine's detail-oriented, go-getter personality slightly backfired during this event, casting her as a tad too serious. In James' view, Catherine allowed herself to focus on the "desire for perfection and doing everything right." This caused the couple to appear burdened by the weight of the decision they had just made. 

Once it actually came time for Prince William and Princess Catherine to walk down the aisle, their body language improved considerably. Indeed, on April 29, 2011, the pair said "I do" at Westminster Abbey and were subsequently styled the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Because the event was so grandiose, it was hardly a surprise that the groom was a little on edge. As body language expert Darren Stanton told Express, "When William arrived at Westminster Abbey, you could sense he was really nervous as he was wringing his hands together. It's quite a natural response for a wedding day, with most people feeling nervous or anxious."

Interestingly, though, Stanton said there was a slight mismatch between William and the bride. Apparently, Catherine was feeling much more grounded on her big day, exuding a sense of tranquility that put her future husband at ease. "She was very similar to the confident Kate that we see now. As the ceremony went on, it's clear that she gave strength to William and built up his confidence," the body language specialist explained.

Following their gorgeous wedding, Prince William and Princess Catherine went on to have three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Parenthood changed the couple indelibly, with the proud mama stepping up rather confidently. Princess Catherine developed a unique parenting style, which banned the use of the word "kids" and flung the traditional naughty chair to the wayside. William, meanwhile, has admitted that fatherhood had brought up some of his old trauma about Princess Diana's death.

Despite their differing initial reactions to parenthood, both Catherine and William seem to have experienced a shift in their body language directly after George's birth. In the view of some experts, the two became more cautious — perhaps a reflection of their newfound responsibilities. On his blog, Body Language and Emotional Intelligence, Dr. Jack Brown noted that William seemed particularly tense while presenting George to the world.

At one point, when a reporter asked a question, the prince responded in a tell-take way that suggested he was on edge. "This is a type of 'low level fear' expression indicates that someone (either the speaker or the listener) has just crossed over a line of acceptable behavior or an outcome has occurred which may have some unpleasant/unwanted ramifications," Dr. Brown wrote. Catherine, for her part, knew that her body language revealed fear, telling the "Happy Mum, Happy Baby" podcast that it was "slightly terrifying" to show her new baby to everyone.

It's hardly a secret that Prince William and Princess Catherine had mixed feelings about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship. From the very first encounter, the two were said to be put-off by Meghan's laid-back American ways. As Meghan shared in the Netflix documentary series, "Harry & Meghan," "Even when Will and Kate came over, I met her for the first time ... I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I was a hugger, always a big hugger, and I didn't realize that's really jarring for a lot of Brits."

Body language experts say that this sense of hesitation toward Meghan was expressed on the day of the Sussex' wedding in 2018. Speaking to Reader's Digest, nonverbal communication expert Patti Wood, MA, said that Catherine looked like she hadn't slept much the night before the wedding. Meanwhile, Jesús Enrique Rosas of "The Body Language Guy" said William exhibited signs of "panic." "You can clearly see that William is clenching his jaw ... He also swallows hard at the same time ... So we keep stacking signals of being anxious or nervous," Rosas said on his YouTube show. This did not necessarily bode well for Prince Harry and Prince William's relationship moving forward.

On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died at 96. The monarch's death was felt deeply by Prince William and Princess Catherine, both of whom adored the late queen. "While I grieve her loss, I also feel incredibly grateful," William wrote in a statement shared on Instagram. "I have had the benefit of The Queen's wisdom and reassurance into my fifth decade. My wife has had twenty years of her guidance and support."

Despite this sentiment of gratitude, William and Catherine struggled following Elizabeth's death. Leading up to her funeral, the pair greeted the troops at Army Training Centre Pirbright. Dressed in mourning attire, the pair exuded a sense of overwhelming sadness. They also displayed some PDA in contrast to their usual formality. As body language expert JudiJames told The Sun, "Despite the very formal and beautifully smart outfits and the way both their faces seem to be etched with grief, this is an unusually tactile Kate and William." The pair continually reached out toward each other during the visit — a sign that they were seeking comfort in each other.

Following an abdominal surgery in January 2024, Princess Catherine was diagnosed with cancer. Her illness would put some serious strain on the Wales couple as they absorbed the news. No longer would Catherine be able to attend important engagements. Instead, she would need to undergo treatment, including preventative chemotherapy.

In the face of this heart wrenching news, William rose to the occasion. The prince potentially realized that some royal leadership was required, and his body language began to reflect something much more kingly. Responding to this transformation, Judi James told the Daily Mail, "William's recent change of style and his much less cautious-looking and less formal body language seems to indicate both a growing confidence in terms of his stepping up to the throne and maybe an update in his priorities since Kate's and his father's illnesses." 

In September 2024, Princess Catherine was cancer-free. This health update was huge for the British royal family, but especially for Prince William and Catherine's immediate family. As such, the Wales couple decided to put together an announcement addressing this major development. In a video shared to The Prince and Princess of Wales' YouTube channel, William and Catherine demonstrated their mutual affection by sitting side-by-side in a cozy embrace. The princess rested her head on William's shoulder, and he affectionately clasped her hand. The couple also recorded several shots of them lying into each other on a picnic blanket on the beach, as well as one of the prince kissing his wife's neck. This intimate body language broke royal protocol that limits public displays of affection, but the public loved it.

Addressing this hands-on display in an interview with The Sun, body language expert Judi James applauded the Wales couple for their genuine sense of chemistry. "Their recent video though shows a couple in what looks like the honeymoon stage of a marriage: tactile, playful and undeniably sexy," said James. Referencing times that the couple had seemed overly formal in the past, the body language expert added, "They've finally come clean on the intense behind-the-scenes romance they've been keeping secret for so long."

Prince William and Princess Catherine may have demonstrated their strong romantic ties in light of the princess' cancer diagnosis, but that doesn't mean they are willing to cast protocol to the wayside. Even if some royal rules may seem outdated, William and Catherine have to follow them. After all, the future of the monarchy is in their hands. With this in mind, it is perhaps unsurprising that the year 2025 has seen William and Catherine step away from touchy feely gestures and embrace a more professional attitude.

Speaking on this subject to The Sun, body language expert Darren Stanton observed that the Wales couple had begun to "show their affection with prolonged eye gazes" rather than physical touch. In his view, this choice has everything to do with respecting the example set by Queen Elizabeth II. "To become king and queen themselves one day, they use and follow the traditional royal protocols of the late queen," Stanton opined.