At the Sussexes’ last engagement as working royals, Prince William, Kate, and even Harry appeared despondent, with the previously cheerful trio showing a noticeable chill in their relations.

However, Meghan, who had become a member of the Royal family less than two years earlier, wore an ‘indestructible perma-smile’ that seldom faltered, as noted by a body language expert.

In a striking video clip taken during a service at Westminster Abbey for Commonwealth Day on March 9, 2020, barely a word was exchanged between the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they stared blankly into the distance.

In contrast, Harry and Meghan held a seemingly animated conversation before sharing a mutual grin.

Just two months earlier, the Royal couple had announced their decision to step back from senior Royal duties, expressing in a statement their desire to ‘focus on the next chapter’.

During this final outing, Meghan’s radiant appearance, according to body language expert Judi James, served as ‘an important public signal to announce she had achieved success in maintaining the affection and loyalty of the royal she loved’.

In conversation with the Daily Mail, she explained: ‘Arriving in a cheerful beret and a superhero-style bright green cape, Meghan’s body language for this tense final royal public appearance before Megxit exuded strength and resilience.’

‘As Harry visually dissolved, from his anxious self-soothing body and jacket touch rituals to his scowling and even tearful appearance towards the end of the service, Meghan appeared to draw on muscle memory to sit smiling throughout.’

Ms James adds that Meghan’s unwavering smile, which ‘endures as the family fractured before our eyes’ may have been a last-ditch attempt at proving that she ‘really did have what it takes to be a royal’.

She explains that ‘perma-smiling under pressure is a key skill that the late Queen, Queen’s mother and Kate always excelled at’.

And Meghan’s short-lived TV stint in Deal or No Deal and years of acting training was bound to have equipped her ‘with the endurance-test level of smiling skills’ that were ‘vital’ to ‘survive this last event’. 

Yet Harry, whose entire life until this point had been littered with numerous Royal engagements, appeared to be somewhat struggling with presenting such an outwardly positive image.

She described Harry as looking, at times, ‘haunted-looking’ and ‘in need of support as he seemed to suddenly realise that the line of backs of heads in front of him was the family he was saying goodbye to.’

Ms James added: ‘While the other royals sat stony-faced and still, Meghan was animated and chatty with Harry. Their heads leaned together in a gesture of trust and exclusivity and when they used eye contact both emerged with re-energised smiles as though Harry was feeding off his wife’s positivity.

‘It’s as though she was taking the lead and offering him a gesture to mirror because without it he was mirroring the sad expression of his brother here.’

She explains that Meghan’s ‘smile and wave’ technique appears to have a mere short-term impact on Harry, noting that ‘every time she looked away, Harry seemed to struggle’. 

 In contrast to a beaming Meghan, Ms James notes that the occasion looked to be ‘much more painful for both Harry and the front-row royals’.

While both Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, then the Countess of Wessex, appeared to play the signature role of ‘royal-row buffers’, appearing both relaxed and chatty, William and Kate appeared to be both ‘saddened and even stricken’.

Kate, in particular, appears to hold acute tension displayed ‘in her slightly huntched and tightly-clasped pose’, while her ‘unsmiling expression involved some licking of her lips to hint at inner stress’.

And Ms James notes that in one particularly ‘tragic body language gesture’, the Royal brothers, Harry and William, are ‘sitting in identical poses, wearing identical facial expressions, with both staring ahead apparently lost in reflection’.

Described as ‘subliminal mirroring’, Ms James shares that the heartbreaking comparison serves as a devastating reminder of their former brotherly ‘double act’. 

Perhaps in a desperate bid to stop himself from pondering on the past and the imminent loss of his brother from Royal protocols, William ‘even seemed to shake himself a little’, as he desperately tried to ‘pull himself out of a train of thought’. 

The notorious final engagement, which exemplified the demise of relations between Harry and Meghan and their Royal counterparts, was also previously analysed by lip reader Jeremy Freeman.

Mr Freeman paid close attention to the moment the Sussexes and then Cambridges met for the first time since ‘Megxit’, noting that William and Kate chose to busy themselves with greeting Edward and Sophie instead.

 Finally, turning to acknowledge his brother, all royal fans could make out was a curt ‘Hello Harry’ from William, to which the younger prince replied: ‘Hello’.

With a smile on her face, Meghan was seen saying ‘hi’ to her sister-in-law Kate before offering a gentle smile and a ‘hello’ to William, who didn’t appear to see her the first time.

Mr Freeman told the publication that Harry turned to his wife and said: ‘At least they acknowledged, unlike last time’.

Meanwhile William’s response was vastly different. He looked relieved as he took his place in the front row and whispered to his wife: ‘That was executed well.’

Continuing to confide in Kate, the future King said: ‘It’s quite good to connect instead of holding things back like always.

‘I know it’s bad, I ought to have words with him. He’ll shout and God knows what but things’ll change, won’t it?’

Writing in his book ‘Battle of the Brothers’, royal expert Robert Lacey revealed that prior to the frosty moment, William had attempted to extend ‘a small but sensitive gesture of peace’ to Harry at his last public outing.

According to the author, Harry was told he and Meghan would not be allowed to take part in ‘The Procession of The Queen’ at the Commonwealth Day Service – as they had done the year prior.

Instead, only Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Duchess Camilla, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge were set to take part – a snub which was printed in the Order of Service for all 2,000 members of the congregation to see.

Mr Lacey wrote: ‘Harry and Meghan were not included in this senior royal group.

‘As “junior” royals they would have to shuffle their way to their seats that afternoon like any other member of the congregation and take their places on the sidelines alongside their fellow “juniors”, Edward and Sophie Wessex.’ 

The prince was reportedly ‘furious’ at being ‘shunted aside on this final appearance’.

So, fearing another highly public royal skirmish, William and Kate stepped in at the last moment in a bid to defuse the situation and offered to join ‘emotional’ Harry and Meghan as they waited in their seats for the Queen, Charles and Camilla to arrive.

‘It was a small but sensitive gesture of peace,’ Mr Lacey wrote.

‘Within minutes of each other, the two princes and their wives slipped quietly into their seats, and both couples then sat waiting with everyone else for the Queen and Prince Charles to process in senior splendour down the aisle to open the ceremony’.

Yet, Ms James’ previous analysis of William’s eleventh-hour olive branch suggested that it was still not enough to ease the ill-feeling between the feuding family – describing the engagement as ‘not exactly the warm reunion we were hoping for’.

‘The tension in Harry’s body language especially was palpable,’ Ms James said. ‘When Harry arrived, the minute he and Meghan had to drop hands, he immediately reached for his wedding ring which is a self comfort.

‘Even when she was beside him after they had stopped holding hands, he was missing her, needing her support.

‘As Harry walked up the aisle to his seat, they both waved at the children, but his face otherwise was quite tense and unsmiling.’

But after the ceremony when Kate and William drove away, Ms James said the public saw a ‘different Harry altogether’.

She added: ‘Laughing and joking with the people outside, Harry’s relief looked so tangible that his sudden eyes to heaven and raised hands looked awfully like a signal of thanks.’