Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, 39, was characterised as shy when she first married Prince William, 39, in 2011. But in the decade since their spectacular royal wedding, the future Queen Consort has thrived in the limelight in a way that will be hugely reassuring to her husband, a body language expert has claimed. Touching on Kate’s transformation, body language expert and author Judi James told Express.co.uk the Duchess has shone during the pandemic.

Judi said: “For the past couple of years and especially since lockdowns started, we have been able to meet Kate properly as an independent royal; future Queen and of course wife and mother.”

Judi added: “If William was worried about the extra exposure and the increased interest in his wife he clearly didn’t need to.

“Her appearances as a campaigner in her own right; as a royal host by herself, and even as a very influential royal within the Firm have all revealed her traits of confidence and inner resolve.”

Judi analysed five powerful photos of Kate taken since the start of the year and shared her insights with Express.co.uk.

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Judi added: “Kate might have previously been more self-effacing and even slightly shy when the cameras are around but here, arriving by herself, she greets the camera with a very direct glance and the flash even adds a gleam to her eye expression.

“The real clincher in terms of Kate’s impact though is that her mouth is hidden behind the mask.

“Kate had always sported a signature smile and without it being visible she could have lost some of her non-verbal impact.

“In fact the opposite is true. By focusing the attention on her eyes rather than her mouth we suddenly saw a new version of Kate that was even stronger and more confident-looking than usual.”

Edinburgh – May

The Duchess donned a pink dress in Edinburgh ahead of meeting Mila, a young girl with cancer, who had always dreamed of meeting a real-life princess.

Responding to the picture of Kate at Holyroodhouse, Judi said: “Kate showed her capacity to go full fairy-tale princess when necessary, arriving here to meet young cancer patient Mila in Edinburgh and fully aware that Mila wanted to see her looking magical.

“Kate will often down-play her presence and status to create rapport when she’s meeting the public, but this was a moment to arrive with a swish of confidence and she played it to the max, making a great entrance with an upright posture and her shoulders pressed down and slightly splayed, her arms hanging down at her sides but held slightly away from her torso and her eyes crinkled in a very confident but friendly eye-smile of greeting.

“She wanted to create a magical memory for Mila and her family and she more than achieved that.”

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Wimbledon finals – July

Kate shone in her role as patron of Wimbledon tennis tournament at the event’s finals this weekend.

Judi said: “Kate has always been a fan of the Wimbledon championships but we’ve normally just had glimpses of her sitting in the royal box.

“Here though she walks down to meet the ball boys and girls and again her confidence signals look raised to a new level.

“Rubbing her hands in anticipation she appears to be sharing a joke with them here.

“Instead of the usual ‘perfect smile’ her mouth is held open in a much more fun expression.

“This ability to joke with groups is one that both her husband and his father have always shared and it is a reflection of Kate’s increased social confidence that she is able to create this level of rapport.”