Kate’s hug with old schoolteacher shows ‘dramatic’ shift in power balance

Earlier this year in February Kate, Princess of Wales was reunited with an old schoolteacher following her tour of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall.

The future Queen was snapped beaming as she embraced Jim Embury, who volunteers at the museum.

Body language expert Judi James spoke to Express.co.uk about the moment, observing the interesting power dynamic between the pair.

While many adults may revert to their childhood selves in the presence of a schoolteacher, this couldn’t be the case for the future King, Judi claimed.

“Kate’s greeting rituals here are not just sweet, they are also important for the execution of the hug. 

“She’s greeting an old school teacher and the power/status balance has tilted dramatically from when she was at school. 

“Kate is now our future Queen so she needed to use some announcement gestures to let the man know exactly what to expect in terms of touch and proximity.”

However, while the Princess did convey her social status, she did not let this detract from the sweet moment.

Judi observed: “This could have been a regal greeting, complete with protocol rules, or it could have been the kind of greeting we often use when seeing ex-teachers, which is often to go back to childhood status and wait gingerly for them to greet us.”

But the expert suggested that the hug was a gesture of affection and appreciation from a royal who membered her educational beginnings.

“But Kate made it obvious from the very start that she was going to be openly affectionate and tactile with her old teacher. 

“She began with a surprise/pleasure signal, opening her mouth in a smile and moving straight in with no offer of a more formal greeting.

“Her right hand clutches the man’s upper arm as her eyes crinkle in an authentic smile of pleasure and warmth and that clutch gesture shows this is going to be a prolonged chat rather than a polite exchange of a couple of words.”

The moving moment between the pair “looked spontaneous and heart-felt”, as she “hooked her arm right round the man’s neck in the kind of closest-quarters embrace that is normally reserved for close family”.

“Even though her face is out of his sight at this point her mouth is still held open in the smile of surprise and pleasure and her eyes are still crinkled to show that pleasure is genuine.”