Kate Middleton and Prince William’s BBC Christmas special with Mary Berry aired on Monday night, setting the internet ablaze with tidbits from A Berry Royal Christmas.
Viewers got to hear a little bit about Prince Louis’ first words, the Duchess of Cambridge’s former career as a waitress at university, and the dishes that William once made at school to woo his now-wife.
Picture-perfect moments and delicious sound bites aside, there was one moment in particular that stood out to viewers on social media.
During a point in the programme when the Duke and Duchess were chatting around a fireside, the duke reaches out to put his hand on Kate’s shoulder. Caitlin McBride, executive editor of Ireland’s Independent.ie style section, captured the moment and put it on Twitter:
From there, a user shared a more cropped version of the interaction:
People on social media were torn – some said that the Duchess was simply shifting in her chair when William reached out, while others said that she was possibly trying to limit the amount of PDA during the TV special.
The small moment mirrors the internet’s love of Princess Anne appearing to shrug off Queen Elizabeth’s insistence that she shake hands with President Donald Trump at a royal reception for the NATO summit in London in early December.
A conflicting report later suggested that the queen was simply asking Anne who was next in line and Anne shrugged and laughed, saying “It’s just me.”
William and Kate typically don’t show a lot of PDA, as they are in line to become king and queen one day. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a looser stance on the amount of public affection generally shown by royals and dictated by royal protocol norms, because of their position further from the throne.
Body language expert Traci Brown previously told HuffPost in 2017 that it appears Meghan’s “Americanness” has rubbed off on Harry, which could be one of the reasons the two are a bit more relaxed in the affection arena.
“It’s true, Harry was already pretty ‘loose’ for a British royal, but Brits usually don’t show a lot of emotion or affection in public,” Brown told HuffPost at the time.
“These two are very affectionate in public. It’s very different from the almost stuffy engagement announcement of William and Kate several years back,” she added.