Prince Harry's reaction during his latest appearance on stage in New York City showcased a “dodgy performer’s glitch,” a body language expert has claimed. The Duke of Sussex’s speech about the dangers of AI at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Wednesday was cut short when the teleprompter failed.
He was welcomed back to the stage some 40 minutes later to deliver the end of his talk, with the duke saying: “Hello again. So AI got into my speech, so I was asked to come out and finish it. Interesting to see what it was so concerned about in part two.”
Harry's pause and return
Harry, who had travelled back to the US for his first public appearance Stateside since returning to live in the UK, started his speech but ended up with a long pause, adding: “And that’s it”, hiding his surprise at having to finish his speech early.
A spokesman for the duke confirmed there had been a fault with the teleprompter and it was fixed while others, including former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, took to the stage, with Harry returning later to deliver the second part of his address.
Expert's verdict
Body language expert Judi James analysed Harry’s appearance, and her verdict was quite telling. She told the Daily Express about the duke’s misfortune on stage: “It's clear from Harry's sonorous vocal tone and his strutting walk that he's adopting the role of total expert on this subject, offering dire warnings to the world.
“As an expert, though, your knowledge will always dwarf your actual words.”
She added: “Of course, we should feel sorry for Harry, but his reaction formed a dodgy performer's 'glitch', hiding the problem from the audience, but also unable to carry on.
“As an 'expert', he could have explained, made one of his famous jokes, shrugged and carried on off-piste. To just stop as though someone has pulled the plug out is odd.”
Context and meeting
The duke made his appearance as his uncle, Earl Spencer, continued to defend his controversial memoir about Diana, Princess of Wales.
Charles Spencer claims in his book that the King, then the Prince of Wales, said about Diana, “we’ll forget her soon enough” during an argument over whether the then-Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin in her funeral procession.
The two-day CGI annual meeting was hosted by former US president Bill Clinton, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton in a bid to bring together leaders to help solve urgent global issues.
