NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Paul Little: What Prince George really said in Canada . . .

By Paul Little
NZ Herald·
7 Oct, 2016 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Britain's Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, fixes Prince George's hair as he waves to the crowd. Photo / AP

Britain's Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, fixes Prince George's hair as he waves to the crowd. Photo / AP

Opinion by Paul LittleLearn more

Whenever a royal tour is announced, a frantic round of preparations is triggered.

Ocelots are force-fed truffles and left to marinate in ambergris, slums are bulldozed to create highways that will allow the royal party to make its progress unimpeded and the body language experts sharpen their microscopes ready to pore over every tic and twitch and interpret their meaning in a way that, fortunately for their careers, is impossible to prove or disprove.

The Cambridges, parents William and Catherine and children George and Charlotte, are an average family of four who will one day have their very own Commonwealth and, in the case of the husband, get to head their own religion - pretty good going when you consider he comes from a broken home.

On a recent holiday in Canada, William and Catherine's habit of occasionally flicking a glance in each other's direction meant theirs was "a genuine love story".

The likelier explanation - that they were silently asking each other, as many couples do, "How soon can we get the hell out of here?" - was not canvassed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But there was another figure on that tour, one on whom much attention was focused.

I refer of course to the third in line to the throne and Stewie "Family Guy" Griffin lookalike, Prince George Alexander Louis, aged 3.

George had a full repertoire of revealing gestures at his disposal. Here for the first time we analyse a few of them, for an insight into what the little prince is really thinking when he is dragged from the security of his gold-plated nursery and forced into close proximity with his vassals.

Stepping from the plane on first arriving, George, dressed like the other three members of his family in varying shades of blue, had one hand firmly held in his father's, but the other was raised in a gesture indicating uncertainty about where he was stepping.

Or so many analysts claimed. In fact, the hand-out, palm-down gesture signalled irritation because he knew colour-blocking was so 2013.

Discover more

Opinion

Mad, bad, great - families matter

10 Sep 08:45 PM
Opinion

Paul Little: The secret of happiness

17 Sep 05:00 PM
Opinion

Paul Little: Setting birthday bar sky-high

24 Sep 04:00 PM
Opinion

Paul Little: What the Dickens is happening?

01 Oct 04:00 PM

Introduced to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, George was possibly the only human on the planet to have spurned the Canadian heartthrob's advances and not shake his hand.

Although many interpreted this as natural shyness on the part of a toddler confronted with an adult-sized charisma machine, some body language experts noticed a certain snake-eyed glint in George's eyes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It was possible, they surmised, that George thought he was being introduced to irritating actor and Jennifer Aniston accessory Justin Theroux.

When the PM offered a high-five instead of a handshake George's expression was unambiguous. It said: "Oh puh-leaze, homie, give me a break."

On many occasions George was seen with a quizzical expression on his face.

Many took this to mean he was finding the stress of the tour overwhelming.

But George is a doughty Windsor as well as a high-strung Spencer and the demands of a royal tour are part of his DNA.

What his expression really conveyed, according to a small but convincing number of analysts, was "Jeez, I hope they can't see my bald spot."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

George was frequently caught in photographs with one knee raised in the air as though at the high point of a march step.

But this is also a subconscious defence mechanism, the leg being raised in order to shield oneself.

And what did George - surrounded by a platoon of security - have to worry about?

Most analysts agree that the body-hiding gesture arose because George had finally worked out that someone had dressed him in a mortifying combination of black knee socks and red shorts.

Another group of analysts disputes this, arguing that George was jumping up and down because it had been a long trip and he really really needed to go to the toilet.

George was also photographed with his little face pressed hopefully against a window pane.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The more loyal analysts saw this as his desire to get closer to his future subjects. Most saw it as the familiar signal for wanting to escape.

This interpretation was bolstered by an account of George's response when the plane in which he was travelling landed and he was able to sit in the co-pilot's seat and play with the controls.

"Kate said, 'Where are you going to fly us? Are you going to fly us to Canada?'

"And George said, 'No, I'm going to fly us to England'."

And who could blame him for trying?

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Travel

Hate skiing? Try these snow-free winter adventures in NZ instead

19 Jun 06:00 AM
New Zealand

What you need to know for the Matariki long weekend

19 Jun 04:00 AM
Premium
Lifestyle

The 39 definitive rules of office fashion

19 Jun 12:00 AM

Help for those helping hardest-hit

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Hate skiing? Try these snow-free winter adventures in NZ instead

Hate skiing? Try these snow-free winter adventures in NZ instead

19 Jun 06:00 AM

If you need a break from the slopes or don’t fancy a ski, there’s still a lot to do this.

What you need to know for the Matariki long weekend

What you need to know for the Matariki long weekend

19 Jun 04:00 AM
Premium
The 39 definitive rules of office fashion

The 39 definitive rules of office fashion

19 Jun 12:00 AM
The three tools leading the charge in arthritis pain relief

The three tools leading the charge in arthritis pain relief

18 Jun 11:12 PM
Inside Leigh Hart’s bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi
sponsored

Inside Leigh Hart’s bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP