RED carpet royalty Meghan Markle and Beyonce were a serious power duo as they met on the Lion King premiere red carpet on Sunday.
A body language expert has revealed that the Duchess of Sussex, 37, used six gestures that showed that world the singer is her ultimate A-list best friend – and she’s not afraid to show it.
It is believed that the Leicester Square star-studded event was the first time the two famous women had met in person, but they’d long been fans of one another.
Meghan has previously gushed about Beyonce on her Instagram account, and the Crazy In Love singer paid tribute to the duchess at the Brit Awards in February.
Body language expert Judi James told Fabulous Digital: “Despite having never met Meghan and Beyonce greeted one another using signals that would normally define a very close and fond relationship.
“And they used as many as six gestures that made them look like A-list friends.”
Meghan has a host of famous pals, including Serena Williams, Amal Clooney and Priyanka Chopra, so could she want Queen Bey to be her number one?
When Meghan first encountered Beyonce at the Disney premiere, she used a head-tilt during her greeting.
Judi explained: “This is normally a gesture used by friends who haven’t met for a while.
“It’s an acknowledgment gesture with the heat-tilt also suggesting sizing someone you know well up in a good way to see if they’d changed during the time apart.
“It would signal to other people that this is a meeting of two people who are warmer than just business or first-meet social acquaintances and it’s the kind of gesture that would make both people smile to perform it.”
While numerous fans would be in awe and shy to be Beyonce’s presence, Meghan went straight in touch her arm and make personal contact.
Judi said: “Then we have the hand-out announcement gesture that Meghan used, which involved a hand on Beyonce’s arm.”
She explained that it’s usually the host who instigates a greeting ritual but as neither women were hosting this event it would probably have been natural for Meghan, as a duchess, to open and guide the ritual style.
By touching Beyonce’s arm, Meghan has announced that their close gesture is to be more than a handshake.
Another part of the hand-out announcement was a brief kiss on the cheek by Meghan – and while some might think this is forward, Judi said the move was unsurprising.
Judi added: “These greeting rituals have meaning both to the people doing them and – at this kind of high, A-lister level – to fans and people watching too.
“Like political greeting rituals there will always be gestures of congruent and over-congruent bonding or more formal frostiness if the two stars have fallen out.”
Judi said the pair showed their immediate intimacy by the way “the two women then turned the cheek kiss into a hug”.
She explained: “This would suggest the polite formality of the air-kiss was being swapped for the kind of embrace greeting you might see from close family members or best friends.
“Beyonce had her hand around Meghan’s waist, and the way Beyonce closed her eyes as they hugged look as though they were both cherishing the friendship.”
Judi explains this was one was of the strongest moments of bonding and looked like Beyonce was intensifying the experience.
The leading ladies then carried on the hand clasps while separating to chat, and Judi said this showed a reluctance to part and a desire to carry on chatting.
Judi said: “This suggested two women who had been wanting to meet for a long time and who felt strong bonds of empathy and affection.
“The announcement gestures employed during this very public ritual between two of the biggest names on the planet would have defined the making of two new best friends to the public, with strong levels of rapport.”
Judi said that when they held hands together they used a “judder ritual” and added that “with those hands that would imply close bonding.”
The expert explained: “This hand judder is a gesture that can define excitement during a meeting.
“As a tie-sign it works when there’s either no time to speak or as a short-cut to show mutual pleasure in one another’s company.”
She added: “Meghan clearly couldn’t wait to introduce Harry to Beyonce and her husband and he mirrored the warm greeting rituals but in a slightly more formal way.”
Beyonce and Jay-Z told Meghan and Prince Harry that they should “always find time for themselves” as they raise “beautiful” baby Archie.
Meghan Markle was cruelly mum-shamed by critics claiming she looks like she’s about to DROP Archie and ‘doesn’t know how to carry him’.
She also made headlines after it was claimed her security team tried to stop tennis fans from taking photos of her at Wimbledon.
