Cast your mind back to 2011 and the last Royal Wedding and you may remember seeing plenty of articles in the news about what the newly wedded couple were saying to each other, particularly when they stood on the balcony to share their first kiss.  For those who were lip reading, they had the added advantage of knowing exactly what Prince William and Kate whispered as they stepped forward, waving to the crowd. Even with so much noise and gaiety going on, anyone skilled in lip reading could share a smile, being aware of their secret, “’I love you… let’s give them another one!” as their first kiss as man and wife took place.

But when it comes to lip reading the British royal family gossip, how is it done and how will this fascinating technique be applied when Harry and Meghan tie the knot?  Lip reading allows the user to ‘listen’ with their eyes instead of their ears by carefully watching not only the speaker’s lips as they talk but also their facial expressions, movements and gestures.  As you can see, it encompasses much more than just watching someone’s mouth as their lips move.

So when it comes to the Royal Wedding taking place in May 2018, the lip reading experts will be doing all of the following as they watch the happy couple conversing:

• Making use of the signals provided by those speaking, carefully watching their lips, tongue and even their teeth
• Evaluating facial expressions, gestures and body language alongside the words being spoken
• Using vision to make up for what they cannot hear
• Knowing how the likely conversations will go, using this ‘prior knowledge’ to make up for any gaps where accurately reading the lips is not possible

Strangely enough, it is often easier to lip read long sentences rather than short words and as Harry and Meghan are unlikely to be able to take part in long conversations on the day, this element of lip reading will most probably not come into play!

Taking all of this into account, this can make some people harder to lip read than others, and that does not only apply to the Royal Family.  Throw these scenarios into the equation and the job of the lip reader becomes a very tough one:

• Subject mumbling, speaking through fairly closed lips and not displaying tongue or teeth
• Lack of facial expression, gestures and body language
• Lots of noise and distractions

With some of the shapes made by the lips looking the same such as ‘b’ and ‘p’ and ‘m’, being able to detect all of these other clues is so important.  Put a person with a deadpan face under the scrutiny of a lip reader and the whole process becomes problematic, akin to trying to lip read a piece of furniture! Speaking of furniture and people with faces like er… sideboards, have a gander at this.

But what about the people that are every lip reader’s perfect subject, those who are very loud, colourful and expressive?  One such subject is Zoe Pocock, owner of the fabulous upcycling company Muck n Brass.  You may have seen her recently on the BBC1 show Flipping Profit.  Even more interesting is the fact that she has teamed up with Anthony Devine of the leading modern upholstery school to create a fabric for a very Royal Wedding with Harry and Meghan on it.  Look, isn’t it fabulous?

Her Royal Wedding Upholstery parties and workshops have been very well attended, with customers keen to have something to remember long after the wedding bells have stopped chiming.  But what makes Zoe such a good lip reading subject? Exuberant and lively, when she speaks she looks at you, her words are very well formed and her body language does much to enliven the conversation, meaning that she is a virtual lip reader’s dream subject.

But what category do Prince Harry and his fiancée Meghan Markle fall into? It has to be said that Meghan is the easier of the two to lip read as, being an actress by profession, her use of gestures and signals is repeated often. If we look back to 2017 when the couple were interviewed together, during the time when the microphones were switched off, when Meghan interrupted him, Harry was seen to say, (referring to the BBC journalist), “She wants me to say something,” at which point his bride-to-be laughed and apologised.  Harry’s body language then came to the fore as he slapped his knee, saying, “Goddamit!” Clearly they were relaxed and happy in each other’s company and by lip reading their words, this was reaffirmed.

But this does not always mean that the media get it right.   Looking back to the the time when the couple were standing before the altar and William mouthed a few short words to Kate, a variety of different translations were printed, with him reported to be saying any one of the following:

“You look – er, you are beautiful.”

“You look lovely.”

“You look stunning, by the way. Very beautiful.”

“You look stunning babe!’

As you can see, all very different and the latter one definitely more unlikely!  This goes to show that lip reading is quite a personal thing and that different interpreters see a variety of results.  Up to 90% of translation can be down to guesswork and experience, so it makes sense that the lip readers that are more skilled and used to working with the Royal Family on a regular basis are more often than not going to be the ones that get it right.  But with lip reading being such a skilled art, even a lifetime of practice can sometimes make it hard or near on impossible to make out what certain people are saying, even those who are a part of the Royal Family.

In the case above, the fact that William was misquoted did not create problems but it is easy to see that getting it wrong sometimes may result in not only funny but also highly misleading analysis!

So with a very Royal Wedding taking place in May 2018, it will be no surprise that lip readers galore – in fact some of the best – will be hired by the news channels, ready to provide viewers who are hard-of-hearing with some juicy snippets of news and gossip as well as an ongoing commentary.  Not only the Royal couple will be in the spotlight but also attendees at the wedding and other members of the Royal Family, the Queen most of all. The lip reading team at 121 Captions have been booked to cover the event by not only ITV and a host of other UK newspapers but also a variety of US magazines.  This truly is a global event and one that everyone will be covering, not only because Miss Markle is an American citizen.

And what about lip reading the Queen, who is bound to feature in a big way on this very Royal Wedding day?  It has to be said that she falls into the category of ‘hard to read’ as she speaks in a very controlled way and with little or no body language.  This is most likely the way that she was taught to speak and is a style that has remained with her throughout her life, but it will certainly make the job of the lip readers much harder on May 19th 2018.

There is also going to be a lot of fun and interest surrounding Meghan’s extended family; the media are already having a field day, Meghan’s father Thomas having been in the news constantly for the last few weeks with a ‘will he or won’t he’ walk her down the aisle commentary.  Unfortunately he will not be there, due to a heart attack and a recent paparazzi scandal but Meghan’s sister-in-law, Tracy Dooley, will be and if looking at her current interviews in the media is anything to go by, she is going to fall into the more ‘colourful’ category. Many eyes will be on her when it comes to lip reading her take on the lead up to the Royal wedding, the ceremony and commentaries that are bound to take place afterwards.

One thing is for sure, lip readers covering the event will need to be on their toes as misinterpreting conversations and whispered notes to each other is not something that can really be quoted wrongly without a whole series of comebacks.

With everyone’s eyes firmly fixed on the TV screens on Saturday, as well as the hosts of crowds who will be congregating in the streets of London, the many lip readers covering the captioning of the event are going to have to make sure that their skills are finely honed and their eyesight sharpened in time for the big day.  With TV media coverage beginning at 09.30 and likely to go on long after the ceremony at 12 noon, lip reading the Royal Family is sure going to be fascinating!