How Andrew went into ‘basking shark mode’ and tried to muscle in on Kate’s limelight, according to a body language expert 

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor went into ‘basking shark mode’ and ‘glowered’ at the Princess of Wales while she was the ‘centre of a royal fan frenzy’, a body language expert has claimed. 

Just three months after their fairytale wedding at London’s Westminster Abbey, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the nuptials of Mike and Zara Tindall at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Yet when the newly appointed royal couple exited the church, there was one member of the Firm who held a seemingly targeted ‘dour’ facial expression and sought to ‘break into the royal line-up’, according to Judi James.

Analysing footage of the royal wedding guests stood outside, Ms James told The Daily Mail: ‘Andrew appears to be in fully, socially-opportunistic “basking shark” mode here, moving from side to side at the back of the royal group.’

She added that while the rest of the family held ‘appropriate smiles of good-humoured delight on Zara and Mike’s wedding day’, Andrew, 66, was stood with his hands clasped behind his back with a ‘baleful-looking face’.

With the limelight firmly focused upon Kate, 44, Andrew then proceeded to ‘pop up in different gaps to vie to break into their new star-studded formation where a beaming Kate is the centre of a royal fan frenzy’.

‘With newlywed Kate a spectacular star in the line-up and with the very emphatic sound of cheering fans going into a major tizzy as she appears, Andrew and Harry step out as the “Spares on the stairs”, lurking behind three top-tier royal couples like players consigned to the subs’ bench,’ said Ms James.

The striking footage comes amid reports of a long-standing bitter feud between the disgraced ex-prince and the royal couple following Andrew’s momentous fall from grace in light of his controversial ties to Epstein.

Analysing footage of the royal wedding guests stood outside, Ms James told the Daily Mail: ‘Andrew appears to be in fully, socially-opportunistic “basking shark” mode here, moving from side to side at the back of the royal group’. Pictured: Andrew and Eugenie at the wedding

According to Ms James, signs of animosity between the royal couple and Andrew were apparent 15 years ago – with Andrew seen ‘looming’ behind his nephew, William, 43, on Zara and Mike’s big day.

Ms James explained: ‘William turns his head back to either speak or listen to Andrew as he looms behind him, suggesting the “Queen’s favorite son” has made his first foray into breaking into the line-up, probably expecting an invitation to join in.’

When William turned his head back to the front, Andrew then appeared to ‘hover behind the couple with his head appearing in any gaps’.

‘It is here that we can first see what looks like a glower at a smiling Kate that could, if it is aimed in her direction, singe the flowers on her hat,’ quipped Ms James.

When Andrew eventually manages to join the brief conversation, Kate seems far from interested in engaging with him.

Instead, according to Ms James, the princess is seen ‘smiling alone with no apparent desire to join in’. 

‘Both William and Sir Timothy Laurence turn to the front though, leaving Andrew with his chin lowered, his lips clamped, and his brows pulled into a frown, again appearing to glower in Kate’s direction again,’ she added.

While Andrew appears to be directing his gaze towards Kate here, Ms James insisted that the newly appointed princess looks ‘radiant and joyful’, seemingly ‘unaware of any eyes on the back of her head’. 

Despite eventually managing to integrate into the so-called ‘front row royal line-up’, Andrew ultimately appears to have ‘failed to break into William and Kate’s row’ as he ‘slides right across behind them with his hands clasped behind his back’. 

While Andrew appears to be directing his gaze towards Kate, Ms James insisted that the newly appointed princess looks ‘radiant and joyful’, seemingly ‘unaware of any eyes on the back of her head’

The striking footage of a ‘dour’ Andrew comes amid recent reports that both the Prince and Princess of Wales have made it abundantly clear that a clean break from Andrew was the only way the Firm can move forward amid the Epstein scandal.

Meanwhile, as Andrew’s fall from grace continues, it was also claimed a ‘rude’ comment about Kate first sparked a bitter feud with his nephew William, who ‘couldn’t wait’ for him to be thrown out of Royal Lodge.

William’s distaste for his uncle is said to have began after Andrew made ‘rude’ remarks about wife Kate in the past, a royal biography has claimed.

Writing in his book Entitled, royal author Andrew Lownie revealed a source had declared Andrew had been disrespectful towards the now-Princess of Wales.

The exact nature of the remarks is unknown.

The source is quoted as saying: ‘He [William] also loathes Sarah, Andrew’s ex-wife, and can’t wait for the day when his father throws them both out.

‘If Charles doesn’t, I guarantee you the first thing William does when he eventually becomes king is to get them evicted.’

Mr Lownie also added that William was left furious after Andrew and Sarah turned up to the Duchess of Kent’s funeral in September, which they had not been expected to attend.

He wrote: ‘William, meanwhile, was “furious” at being ambushed in this way, according to friends.

‘He has been at pains to distance himself from his uncle and not be photographed with him.

‘He believes his father has not dealt with him with sufficient firmness and that Andrew – and Sarah Ferguson – have done much to undermine the good work of other members of the Royal Family.’

The striking footage comes amid reports of a long-standing bitter feud between the disgraced ex-prince and the royal couple following Andrew’s momentous fall from grace in light of his controversial ties to Epstein

Before Andrew was stripped of his royal titles, William and Kate backed the King, saying they also wanted him kicked out of Windsor.

William was said to have been pushing for the eviction of Andrew and his ex-wife from Royal Lodge, in Windsor, for years, and was reportedly frustrated at it falling into disrepair in recent months.

Meanwhile, the future King is also rumoured to have long had frosty relations with Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, reportedly referring to his uncle as a ‘tosser’ even before the disgraced Duke’s recent arrest amidst the latest tranche of the Epstein files.

And the historic tensions could go back as far as childhood, with Andrew making ‘disrespectful’ remarks about William’s mother Diana shortly after her death; while her once-friend Sarah betrayed the late royal’s wishes in a tell-all memoir just months before her passing.

In 2019, presenter Denise Welch recounted how she had ‘never liked’ the King’s younger brother after meeting him at a royal gala event because of comments he had made about King Charles’s ex-wife.

The broadcaster said she attended the dinner with her ex-husband Tim Healy and several others, including an unnamed actress and a cricketer.

‘Myself and this cricketer, who I won’t name, had made a decision not to mention Princess Diana because she had only recently died,’ she told the Loose Women programme.

‘I have never met Diana but loved her so much and was mortified when she died, like a lot of people. Anyway, Prince Andrew was very keen to talk about her and he brought it up.

‘He began to say things that really upset me and to me were very disrespectful to someone he shouldn’t have been sharing this information with.’

It is not clear exactly what was said, but Denise was left ‘very, very cross’ and told Andrew as much.

William excluded Sarah from his and Kate’s 2011 wedding after the former Duchess was involved in a ‘cash for access scandal’ the year prior; when she was filmed by the now-closed News Of The World newspaper offering access to Andrew for £500,000 to an undercover reporter posing as an Indian businessman.

Mr Lownie also spoke to Palace Insiders who alleged King Charles’s son has for a while now held animosity towards Sarah, who his grandmother, the late Queen, reportedly branded ‘The Duchess of Deceit’ – according to the author’s Substack; seemingly due to a string of financial scandals over the decades.

A source close to the royal told Mr Lownie: ‘There have been tensions between [William and Andrew] for years, partly occasioned by Andrew being rude about Kate, and William has long worked behind the scenes to evict his uncle from Royal Lodge: He thinks Andy is abusing the property and his privilege there. He also loathes Sarah Ferguson.’

They added that William ‘can’t wait for the day when Charles throws them both out’, and he refers to his uncle as a ‘”tosser”, perhaps not as bad as the vile names his brother Harry uses.’

Sarah has herself been open about facing the consequences of her own actions when it came to her relationship with the royals.

Remarking on her absence from William and Kate’s 2011 royal wedding on Oprah that year, she said: ‘I was not invited, and I chose to go and be in Thailand in a place called Kamalaya and… the jungle embraced me.

‘I wanted to be there with my girls and… to be getting them dressed and to go as a family. And also it was so hard because the last bride up that aisle was me.’

She added: ‘I felt that I ostracised myself by my behavior, by the past, by living with all the regrets of my mistakes, that I sort of wore a hair shirt and beat myself up most of the day thinking and regretting why did I make such a mistake?

‘Why have I made so many mistakes? So I did spend a good three hours on that.’