Royal family

‘What do you think in America about Harry and Meghan?’ is what Lady Anne Glenconner recalled asking John Kerry at Westminster Abbey on coronation day.

Published on October 25, 2023

King Charles III’s coronation is making headlines five months later. A royal family friend has revealed what John Kerry said to her about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the ceremony. Here’s what the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate supposedly had to say about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. 

‘What do you think in America about Harry and Meghan?’ is what a royal family friend asked John Kerry at the coronation

Lady Anne Glenconner, a maid of honor at Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 coronation, shared during The Barnes BookFest that she spoke with the one-time presidential hopeful at the coronation. 

Kerry attended the May 6 ceremony alongside First Lady Jill Biden. As Glenconner recalled, she and the 79-year-old happened to be seated together. At one point, Glenconner asked: “‘What do you think in America about Harry and Meghan?”’ (via Newsweek). 

As for Harry, he watched his father officially become king from another location in the abbey. He sat with his cousins Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice, and their respective husbands. Meghan skipped the coronation, staying behind in California with their two children, Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2. 

Lady Glenconnor recalled Kerry saying he felt ‘very sorry’ for Prince Harry at the coronation

“I feel very sad for Harry. Because, at the king’s coronation, I happened to sit next to somebody called John Kerry, who ran for president,” Glenconner said. 

“He wanted to be president. And he came over with Mrs. Biden, because he is into green things. And we were sitting with the king’s friends, and I said to him, ‘What do you think in America about Harry and Meghan?’” 

His response, according to Glenconner, was: “‘We all feel very, very sorry for Harry.’ So I think I can just leave it at that,” she concluded, making the audience laugh. 

A State Department spokesperson has since refuted Glenconner’s account. They told the Daily Beast he wasn’t commenting on Harry and Meghan’s marriage. “Secretary Kerry does not remember being asked that question,” the spokespeson said. “But as a father in the public eye himself, he has nothing but empathy for people working through a family matter who all deserve privacy and compassion.” 

Lady Glenconner also said Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s situation with the royal family is ‘very sad’ 

Glenconner, who is also a former lady-in-waiting to the queen’s late sister, Princess Margaret, shared her own thoughts on Harry and Meghan in addition to Kerry, King Charles coronation anecdote. 

“I used to know Harry. Because he was a little boy, because my [children’s] nanny Barbara and I used to go and see him. He was a lovely little boy. I think the thing about Meghan was, she had no idea what was expected of her really. I think she just thought it was like being another actress, you know. Riding around in a golden coach and everything like that.” 

“Actually, being a member of the royal family — I mean, I followed Princess Margaret for 34 years — a lot of it is extremely boring actually. Dedicated stuff. Meeting hundreds of thousands of people you are never going to meet again, always trying to say something interesting and nice.”

“I think it is very sad,” she concluded. 

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