TL;DR:
- Kate Middleton hosted the first meeting of the Centre for Early Childhood Business Taskforce on March 21, 2023.
- According to a body language expert, Kate Middleton appeared confident in the “boardroom setting.”
- Kate Middleton looked “rather like the boss” in a group photo save for “one small giveaway of a more modest approach,” her elbow placement.
Kate Middleton may be the Princess of Wales, but a body language expert says she can handle a corporate environment. She even came close to looking like the “boss” during a business taskforce photo op save for a “small giveaway,” her elbows. Ahead, how Kate managed a “boardroom setting” during a meeting about her early childhood development work.
Kate Middleton looked ‘almost totally at home’ speaking in front of a ‘sea of CEOs’ at the first Early Childhood Business Taskforce meeting
On March 21, Kate went to the financial district of London, England, where she spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Centre for Early Childhood Business Taskforce.
According to body language expert Judi James, Kate’s appearance could’ve gone one of two ways. “Presenting or making a speech from a lectern to a sea of CEOs around a boardroom table is not for the faint-hearted and Kate had two options,” she said (via Express).
First, she “could illustrate the contrast in culture and experience by self-diminishing and over-smiling in an ingratiating display.” Second, “she could pack on the signals of control and confidence and position herself as one of them.”
Kate, she explained, appeared to go for the latter. “With only a couple of minor tells Kate seems to have opted for the status and confidence look,” she said, noting her “posing among the big hitters as though fully and happily qualified to press her case.”
“Amazingly for someone who has led a rather detached royal lifestyle, Kate looks almost totally at home in this boardroom setting, surrounded by some of the biggest names in the city,” James added.
Kate’s elbows were a ‘small giveaway’ of a ‘more modest approach’ to ‘boss’ group photo of Early Childhood Business Taskforce
The Princess of Wales’ performance in the meeting had her all set to look like the “boss” in a group photo. She arrived walking with a “wide, purposeful stride” and a “business-like smile” on her face.
Then she displayed “compelling” body language while speaking from a lectern. Kate even engaged in some “very engaging eye contact with her audience.”
When it came time for the photo, however, Kate appeared to shift gears ever so slightly. James explained she looked “rather like the boss of all of them” as she sat with CEOs. But Kate’s elbows proved to be “one small giveaway of a more modest approach.”
If she were going the full Alan Sugar here,” James said, referencing billionaire businessman and U.K. host of The Apprentice, “she would have performed a territorial splay gesture.” It might’ve looked like Kate “resting her elbows on the arms of the chair to announce her authority.”
Kate, she explained, took a different approach. “Instead she keeps her elbows down, suggesting she’s not keen to override the authority of the others posing with her.”
Kate Middleton had another early childhood development meeting in January 2023
The business taskforce meeting was far from Kate’s first time in a corporate setting. Nor was it her first time speaking to professionals about her early childhood development work.
A few months earlier, on Jan. 25, Kate hosted eight experts at Windsor Castle. It marked the first meeting of her early childhood development advisory group.
Shortly after Kate launched her “Shaping Us” public awareness campaign with promotional interviews, a new Instagram account, and school visits.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
