A top body language analyst said Princess Beatrice showed signs of ‘distress’ as she put on a brave face despite growing controversy surrounding her father Prince Andrew’s titles.
The 37-year-old was seen leaving the Royal Lodge in her Range Rover yesterday after visiting Andrew and Sarah Ferguson amid a flurry of torrid headlines about her scandal-hit father.
It includes new claims in a posthumous memoir by late accuser Virginia Giuffre that the prince took part in “an orgy” with herself and “eight other girls.” Prince Andrew has strongly denied all sex claims made against him.
On Friday, Andrew was stripped of his Duke of York title following years of allegations over his friendship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – and, as Giuffre’s book hits the shelves, calls have since grown for parliament to remove his princeship entirely.
Beatrice and her younger sister Princess Eugenie, 35, will remain unaffected by his decision, though have chosen to keep a low profile in recent days, choosing not to attend the star-studded Pink Ball gala at the British Museum over the weekend despite being on the guest list.
Body language analyst Judi James says Beatrice looked stressed as she drove away from the family visit in Windsor on Monday – but appeared to be doing her best to put on a brave face in front of the gathered photographers.
She told the Mirror: “With what looks like a face bare of make-up and with her hair scruffed up into a casual, rickety knot on the top of her head, Beatrice could superficially appear to be signalling some distress here, as though she’s dropped everything to drive to either see and support her mum, dad or both, or to just discuss their current circumstances.
“Given the fact that Andrew is headline news right now, there was presumably a much larger crowd of photographer waiting to snap her as she ‘broke cover’ but her reaction in this photo looks counter-intuitive.
“Rather than adopting the body language of tension, Beatrice seems to have swerved the idea of a grave, solemn and concerned expression or of a more regally stoic poker face here. Her mouth is wide open, and it seems to be in a wide, beaming, teeth-baring smile. The smile also appears to be present in her eye expression, with a crescent-shaping.
“This choice of facial expression could be a stab at bravado. Grinning wide grins while driving alone and under the current circumstances, with all the possibly unwanted attention, would generally suggest a desire to adopt a deliberately projected air of resilience and the rather exaggerated, overkill nature of this smile might confirm that thought.”
