Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Time cover sparks debate about body language

Wednesday saw the release of the cover of Time magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the world issue and this year’s features Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on the cover.

However, the stance of the two royals on the cover has sparked a debate about body language. Meghan is stood further forward than Harry, who is perched on a ledge just behind her, giving them equal height, with his hand on her shoulder.

While the photo would appear completely unoffensive and harmless to most people, some have taken issue with the body language of the couple and branded the image “awkward” and “heavily airbrushed.”

On Twitter, US conservatives like Candace Owens said that the image was “pathetic” and that she wouldn’t “want my husband to be embarrassed like this in front of the world.”

Others have echoed similar sentiments and accused Harry of “hiding” behind Meghan.

Others don’t have quite the same issue and think the couple look absolutely stunning.

Body language expert Judi James told The Sun: “Looking more like a scene from Suits than your average royal-marries-actress couple, Harry and Meghan have adopted the ultimate City power-poses here, with most of the power signals coming from Meghan while Harry seems happy to endorse her as a wingman.”

Darren Stanton, another body language expert, told the Daily Mail that the image reminded him of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. “We see this image of Prince Harry standing behind Megan‘s right hand on her shoulder this is to say ‘I’m with you I am supporting you’. This is very reminiscent of some of the shots that we have seen from Hollywood power couples in the past and most similarly with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.”

The feature on Harry and Meghan was written by Spanish chef and founder of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres who praised the couple’s “compassion” and for giving a “voice to the voiceless.”

Other famous faces included on this year’s list include Britney Spears, Billie Eilish, Simone Biles, Lil Nas X, Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk. Politicians such as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Stacey Abrams, Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping as well as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the first woman to ever be the director-general of the World Trade Organisation.