- Prince Harry compared growing up royal to Downton Abbey with more chaos and drama
- He joked about celebrating US Independence Day linked to his royal ancestor's legacy
- Harry referenced the 2026 World Cup, noting UK fans will face US customs and immigration
Growing up royal sometimes felt “like Downton Abbey,” only with considerably more chaos, Prince Harry has revealed.
“People sometimes ask if growing up with the royal family was a bit like Julian's Downton Abbey,” he told the audience at the British American Business Council's LA lunch on Friday. “Yeah, but only one of those worlds is filled with drama, intrigue, elaborate dinners, marriages to Americans, and the other is a TV show.”
The Duke of Sussex grew up within the British Royal Family and then moved to California with his wife, Meghan Markle.
He joked about navigating a “new world” in the US, including 4 July celebrations that mark “independence from my great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfather.” The event also honoured Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes.
Downton Abbey is a hit British period-drama series set in the early 1900s, following the aristocratic Crawley family and the domestic help who live and work in their grand country estate. Known for its mix of upstairs-downstairs storylines, the show is about romance, family tensions, scandals, and major historical events like the Titanic and World War I.
He then talked about the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. He teased that British fans would need to “behave, get through customs and past ICE” to watch England and Scotland play in the US. The two countries' joint qualification, he joked, was “a Christmas miracle.”
Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana, spent his early life inside the Royal Family before serving in Afghanistan. In 2018, he married American actor Meghan Markle. The couple later stepped back from royal duties and moved to California, where they now raise their two children.
His appearance came after a surprise cameo on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he spoofed himself auditioning to play a Hallmark-style “Christmas prince.” In the segment, he poked fun at America's “obsession” with royalty and joked that the country had already “elected a king.”
