A woman returning home following her grandmother’s funeral has disclosed she received comfort from Prince Harry during a commercial flight.
Justine Parkhurst was in tears aboard the aircraft departing Sydney as she mourned her nan, whose funeral she had just attended, when she realised the Duke of Sussex was seated beside her. Harry, 41, extended words of solace to the stranger mid-flight.
Justine said: “We chatted for a minute and I told him that my Nan is the only one I really wanted to tell about sitting next to the royal. He said, ‘She already knows’. I believe he is right, I bet she arranged the whole thing.”
It was purely by extraordinary chance that Justine found herself on Saturday’s flight, as she and her husband had originally been booked for Friday’s departure but made a late switch. They were subsequently upgraded to the first-class cabin aboard the American Airlines twin-jet Boeing 777-300ER, the same section where Harry and Meghan Markle were travelling following their Australian tour.
However, after her exchange with the prince, Justine is convinced her grandmother is watching over her and orchestrated the fortunate encounter.
She added: “My husband and I got super lucky and were upgraded to first class. While waiting to board… I will tell you that he (Harry) was very nice and so was his wife. They were sweet to everyone and each other.”
Posting on Facebook since the encounter, Justine said: “I sat down and a few tears started to roll down my face, I’m always happy to get the upgrade for that long flight but I wished I had not been on the plane at all.
“I didn’t even notice the person sitting next to me until they were adjusting the seat and getting comfortable. It was Prince Harry. His wife was across from him and their security guards right behind them.”
Meghan, it is understood, occupied a seat across the aisle from Harry in a single pod. This positioned her husband, whom she wed in 2018, in a middle-aisle seat, placing him adjacent to Justine.
She was returning to her residence in North Carolina, via Los Angeles, after the emotional journey to Australia, where her grandmother lived.
Harry and Meghan’s visit, conversely, proved to be a contentious quasi-royal tour. Notwithstanding certain charitable activities, the majority of Australians – 81 per cent – declared in a survey this week that the tour did not improve their view of the couple at all.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
