When a short clip of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arriving at the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles hit social media this week, it didn’t take long for the internet to have a field day reading into the subtext. (The internet gonna internet.)

In the now-viral video, shared around Instagram as well as on Threads by @royalnewschannel, Harry walks slightly ahead of Meghan, shoulders squared, scanning the crowd as they make their way into the arena. The caption framed it this way: “What caught Instagram users’ attention was the way Harry carried himself — many claimed his posture looked more like a bodyguard than a husband.”

One commenter noted that Harry’s mother Princess Diana had met her untimely death amid a papparazzi frenzy — and was tortured by the same unrelenting media during her life. Now, given that Harry’s wife has also “endured constant vitriol and hatred from strangers for over a decade,” this commenter noted “I’d be knee deep in my Kevin Costner era,” referencing the iconic 1992 film The Bodyguard in which Costner starred alongside Whitney Houston.

Another UK-based user added, “Harry is literally the only royal who saw through the BS and chose to protect his wife and child. His mama would be so proud of him.”

Over and over, the same themes surfaced: his military training, the paparazzi, and the loss of his mother, Princess Diana.

“He has the posture of someone who has served in the military,” one user noted. Another was more blunt: “He protects the people he loves. Leave Harry alone.”

Among the other lighter takes:

“My husband IS my bodyguard. What’s wrong with y’all?”

And in a pointed cultural comparison, someone observed: “When Travis Kelce does it everyone is all ‘Awww so lovely!!’ But when he does it everyone thinks it’s a conspiracy?” (A point well made, I think.)

A few commenters criticized Meghan’s demeanor, accusing her of “walking like she’s some kind of movie star” (which… she’s one of the world’s most famous women, so, sure). People always seem to have something to say about Meghan, that’s for sure.

Frankly, I barely see much worth decoding here. First, the walk seems pretty straightforward to me. How are they supposed to walk into a sporting event?

Second, Harry is a trained soldier walking into a massive, crowded public event. He’s also a man whose mother died while being chased by paparazzi, and whose wife has endured years of vitriol — much of it laced with racism. If he seems alert, even protective, feels like utterly ordinary behavior in the larger context of his (rather atypical) life.

We’ve watched this couple be endlessly scrutinized for nearly a decade now. Sometimes a hand on the back is just a hand on the back. And sometimes a husband scanning the room is just a husband who knows exactly how ugly the room can get.