Royal whispers laid bare by lip readers – Meghan’s final straw to King Charles’s wedding remark

Lip readers examined the words exchanged by the Royal Family in some of their most high-profile moments in a new documentary – revealing new insights into the family’s dynamics

Royal whispers decoded for the first time by lip readers(Image: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace)

Existing inside the royal spotlight means that for the House of Windsor, millions of eyes are trained upon them at every moment they appear in public.

This is particularly true at the Royal Family’s most high-profile events – like royal weddings, King Charles’ Coronation, or Trooping the Colour. Whilst conducting engagements like these, the Windsors are on official duty, but they are still a family, and every so often, they are caught having a candid conversation or moment on camera.

A new Channel 5 documentary featuring insight from expert lip readers has revealed some snippets of conversations the senior royals have had in public, bringing new insight into their relationships. Lip readers are something that the royals have to be wary of, so much so, that guests at Harry and Meghan’s wedding back in 2018 were even warned to cover their mouths when they were speaking to one another.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please be careful what you are saying to each other because the world can lip read,” photographer Alexi Lubomirski has since revealed guards told the guests, adding: “As you walk in, you see a lot of people sort of talking like this…You don’t know what you’re talking about, but everyone on these cameras is watching and lip-reading.”

The new documentary, entitled Lip-Reading The Royals: The Secret Conversations, dropped some bombshells about the internal dynamics of the Royal Family, and included some seriously sweet moments too.

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Harry and Meghan bombshell

When Harry and Meghan decided to quit royal life and move across the pond, it sent shockwaves throughout the UK, but Harry has since admitted that the couple’s unhappiness inside the monarchy had been brewing for a long time.

The serious chat happened only months after the couple’s wedding(Image: Getty Images)

At a remembrance service in 2018 – only a few months after the pair’s star-studded royal wedding in Windsor, the couple shared a conversation before the service began that seemed to potentially reference their desire to leave life as working royals behind.

Lip reading expert Nicola Hickling decoded the conversation for the programme, as she claimed Meghan instructed Harry to “take advantage of the situation”, before she turned to look around at the sea of royals that surrounded them.

“She says Harry responded to her comment by asking: “Today?”, as Meghan added: “Do it tonight.” Then, Harry poses a question to Meghan, asking: “You do realise that this is the end?” as Meghan responds: “Yeah, I do know” before looking away again.

The experts featured in the documentary put forward that this could have been a reference to the couple’s desire to leave, but whilst that isn’t confirmed, it’s clear it was a serious conversation.

Prince Harry out in the cold

In the approach to King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Coronation, a huge amount of interest was generated about whether or not Harry and Meghan would be there.

In the end, Harry came to the historic day solo – but the lip readers captured a moment between the Duke and his cousin Princess Eugenie, with whom he is close, that indicated he wasn’t particularly happy with the icy reception that had met him at the event. It came only months after the release of his bombshell memoir Spare, that saw him make accusations about his relatives, and lifted the lid on the Windsor’s family dysfunction.

Harry made the comments to his cousin Eugenie(Image: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

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“I’ve spent five hours with my dad in his office and not a friendly text from either,” he said to Eugenie, with the lip reading experts claiming he said next, “Why hasn’t anybody contacted me?”

Eugenie responded with a quick and cautious but seemingly sympathetic smile.

Charles’ emotional moment

After being diagnosed with cancer not long into his reign, Charles was forced to take some time away from “public-facing” engagements and limit his schedule based on how he was feeling physically.

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However, he was never going to miss Trooping the Colour, one of the set piece events of the Royal Family’s year. In 2024, he did ride in a carriage however, as an adaptation, where he was spotted by the documentary’s lip readers appearing to have an emotional moment with his wife Camilla.

“Are you absolutely certain?” Camilla said to Charles, they claimed, before the monarch replied, “I’ll get through today, it makes me feel emotional, I don’t know why”.

William and Kate’s sweet parenting moments

A couple of adorable parenting moments were revealed in the new documentary, showing Kate and William trying to balance the formal nature of their royal duties, whilst still engaging with their children normally.

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In one moment, when Prince George was starting his very first day of school, William was spotted by the lip readers calmly and carefully explaining to his eldest son – who was at the time very young and visibly nervous, what was going on.

William took George to his first day of school in 2017(Image: Getty Images)

The lip readers claimed that William told George that the photographers were going to take his photo because it was his first day, and as the father and son held hands and approached his new teacher, he told George they would “shake the teacher’s hand” when they met her.

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In another seriously sweet moment, William was pointed out to have told his children “Eyes to the skies” whilst the senior royals were gathered on Buckingham Palace balcony to watch a flypast, as a gentle reminder to pay attention to what was going on, after George said to his parents, “the crowd is so loud”. At the end of the RAF display, Kate said to Prince Louis, “Wow, wow, did you enjoy that?”.

Kate likes a man in uniform

Before Kate had officially joined the Royal Family, she was still a staple presence at important moments for Prince William, after the pair fell in love as students at the University of St Andrews and had been in a long-term relationship.

Kate’s informal moment was caught on camera(Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

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At his passing out parade at Sandhurst, Kate was spotted by the lip readers making a joking comment to her pals about enjoying seeing her other half in his formal military attire.

“I love the uniform, it’s so sexy,” Kate said, the lip readers claimed, before her friends all killed themselves laughing.

Harry and William’s brotherly banter

Whilst William and Harry are now known to have a pretty icy relationship, they once seemed inseparable to the public – and one moment picked up on in the new documentary showed just how far their dynamic has disintegrated.

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Harry and William’s banter at the wedding was a stark contrast to their relationship today(Image: PA)

At their father’s wedding to their stepmother Camilla in 2005, William found himself having something of a bad hair day. His locks were all over the place during the windy day, and he turned to his younger brother and said that his “hair is a right mess” according to the lip readers.

Harry, seemingly noticing for the first time, replied, “Whoa” before joking around a bit at his brother’s expense and using his hands to show just how big William’s hair had become, to which William replied, “Don’t” with a smile.

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