The REAL reason why Meghan Markle is ‘hands on’ with Prince Harry

Meghan Markle is never afraid to be tactile with her husband in public.

The Duchess of Sussex is regularly seen tightly grasping Prince Harry‘s hand, or comforting him with a soft palm on his back.

Now, body language expert Judi James has revealed the deeper meaning behind the importance the couple seem to place on physical touch in public.

The Duchess uses various tactile methods to communicate with her husband and Ms James suggests this is because of their need to signal to one another.

There is the ‘double clutch’ that sees Meghan hold her husband with both hands and could be a ‘gesture of possession’, Ms James said.

And Meghan is also a fan of putting her hand on Harry’s knee, a ‘sensual’ move that Ms James said is another ‘signal of ownership’ and display of ‘physical attraction’.

Below, MailOnline reveals Ms James’ expert opinion on the couple’s most familiar tactile gestures.

The couple’s recent trip to Colombia isn’t the first time Meghan has clasped her husband’s arm and hand at the same time.

When she first performed the gesture during their engagement announcement in 2017, Judi said ‘it had and still has a multi-media message purpose’.

‘This extra clingy clutch shows a desire to keep Harry close,’ Ms James said.

‘In the early days it also allowed Meghan to create a self-protective “comfort barrier” with her arm held across her torso.

‘More recently though it looks like a gesture of possession or a boast of ownership, as in “He’s mine”.

‘It suggests he is her priority but it also allows for a small sensual ritual if her fingertips are touching his bare arm.’

The ‘possessive’ gesture was displayed at the ESPY Awards in July too, when the couple posed with former tennis player Serena Williams.

When Harry takes the lead at events like the Invictus Games, Meghan seems to take a different approach to her physical contact with her husband.

She often will hold his arm, rather than his hands. Ms James said: ‘Meghan’s clutch on his bicep shows a “surrendered” approval of his manliness and strength’.

Though Meghan is letting her husband lead, the gentle touch still allows her to ‘remain part of the double act,’ Ms James added.

Harry founded the Invictus Games for wounded veterans and continues to be heavily involved.

Meghan has regularly joined her husband to the sporting events since her first public appearance with Harry in 2017, when they watched wheelchair tennis together.

Meghan uses both of her hands to hold one of Harry’s in another double clasp gesture.

Ms James says it is ‘the strongest form of hand linking’, giving them a ‘romantic couple’ appearance.

Ensuring they maintain how their relationship looks to the public could be important to the couple after they stepped down as working royals, and simple hand holding techniques play a part.

Ms James compared the situation to the former King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, who also left the UK after Edward abdicated from the throne.

She said: ‘Like Edward and Wallis there is a tendency to define and re-define their ongoing closeness and devotion to keep letting everyone know this was not a mistake.’

The body language expert dubbed the gesture as the ‘hand sandwich’.

It previously featured during their engagement shoot, where Meghan looked up at her future husband while they both grinned.

Last year, she also clasped Harry’s hand with both of hers at an Invictus Games event in Germany, when the couple met with NATO Joint Force Command and families from Italy and Netherlands.