After reviewing video of Donald and Melania Trump’s arrival at Windsor Castle earlier today, a human behavior specialist seemed to have a lot to say about the First Lady’s hat.
For those who are not familiar with the couple’s transatlantic journey, the Trumps made their second state visit to the UK on Tuesday, September 16, making history as the first political figures to get two invitations to return. In 2019, the couple had been hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
After a restful night’s sleep, the Americans’ Marine One chopper touched down this morning in the Windsor gardens of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, where the Prince and Princess of Wales welcomed them.
Given that Melania and Kate Middleton are both frequently praised for their keen sense of style, social media observers had been anticipating the Trumps’ arrival for a long time in the hopes of catching a sight of them at their first public gathering.
Following her husband out of the aircraft, however, all eyes were immediately drawn to 55-year-old Melania – or, more specifically, the ginormous piece of headwear sitting atop her head.
The mother of one, who has a 19-year-old son named Barron with the US President, wore a very stylish charcoal gray two-piece suit and a very wide-brimmed burgundy hat. It seemed that everyone was staring at her.
“Melania has deployed the big hat,” was the retort on X, the former Twitter. Someone else chuckled: “I’m sure that I saw Melania’s hat on sale yesterday in the John Lewis lighting department.”
However, it appears that the First Lady was fully aware of her choice of headgear.
According to body language expert Inbaal Honigman, there are probably two reasons why this specific costly hat was chosen.
“This is not the first time we observe Melania in a low, wide-brimmed hat,” she told Tyla today on behalf of OLBG. “In body language terms, this serves two functions.”
Honigman continued: “Firstly, it creates a safe space around her so nobody can get too close. Secondly, the hat can act as a cloak of invisibility, allowing the First Lady to employ all manner of facial expressions undetected.
“So much of non-verbal communication is executed by facial expressions that it can be more than 50% of body language.”
The human behaviour expert went on to reveal: “As the wide-brimmed hat slung low, it hides Melania’s forehead, eyebrows and – to a certain extent – her eyes, therefore making it hard to detect any sense of annoyance or frustration.
“Those emotions are conveyed via the forehead, the eyebrows, and eyes.”
