Meghan Markle and Prince Harry recreate Princess Diana and Prince Charles' polo match kiss but there's a difference
When Prince Harry emerged victorious at the Sentebale Polo Cup this week, he was rewarded with a congratulatory kiss from his new wife, Meghan Markle. The sweet kiss was captured for the world to see, and it had a special significance as it was the newly wed royals first time locking their lips in public since their wedding in May.
However, the intimate gesture echoed a similar PDA of more than 30 years ago when Harry's parents puckered at another charity polo match in Windsor in 1985 and fans were quick to spot the similarities. Just nine months after Harry was born, a young Prince and Princess of Wales shared a kiss during the winners' presentation at the charity match.
According to author and body language analyst Judi James, the couple's respective smooches provide a unique opportunity to "study the state of royal relationships." She told Mail Online, "Windsor men like nothing better than strutting round in thigh-highs and white jeans to show off their alpha potential to their women on the polo field. This "reward" kiss comes during the trophy-giving ceremony and it gives us a chance to study the state of royal relationships during what are likely to be the only kissing PDAs outside the royal weddings, she adds.
After analyzing, she stated; "Charles didn't always fare as well as this with his polo kiss moments." "The breakdown of his marriage to Diana was pretty much announced in neon when Diana swerved her head at the moment of kiss [in India in 1992], leaving her husband's painfully pursed lips making contact with the side of her hair," she explained.
James said that even in the 1985 photo there can be discerned an element of distance between the royal couple. "There is a feeling in this pose that Diana was in distance-making mode though, as her torso is partially turned towards the cameras and also held upright, rather than leaning in to make it easier for her slightly shorter husband to make contact," she explained further.
"Her chin is also tilted up slightly and the effect can be seen in the muscle tension in Charles's neck as he cranes his head out and upward to plant his kiss, which lands on Diana's lower lip rather than fully on her mouth," she examined.
"Diana is making him do most of the running here and we can see her cheeks rounded showing that she's smiling, either from fun or embarrassment. Charles has his hand firmly on the trophy here and Diana holds it with fingers splayed to suggest it's only half as important to her."