This season on the British Royal Family\u2026<\/p>\n
Prince Harry compared his experience being a UK royal to the popular British TV series \u201cDownton Abbey\u201d during his speech at the British-American Business Council\u2019s 65th Annual Christmas Luncheon in Santa Monica, Calif. on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople sometimes ask if growing up with the royal family was a bit like Julian\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Downton Abbey,’\u201d Harry, 41, said, according to People.<\/a> <\/p>\n Prince Harry speaks at Project Healthy Minds\u2019 World Mental Health Day in New York City on October 10. Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n Queen Camilla, King Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry leave St Paul\u2019s Cathedral in London in 2017. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, but only one of those worlds is filled with drama, intrigue, elaborate dinners [and] marriages to Americans \u2014 and the other is a TV show,\u201d the Duke of Sussex quipped.<\/p>\n Created by Julian Fellowes, \u201cDownton Abbey\u201d is about an aristocratic family who live in a grand English country estate in early 20th-century England. The series aired on ITV from 2010 to 2015 and also spawned three films, including \u201cDownton Abbey: The Grand Finale\u201d<\/a> which came out earlier this year.<\/p>\n Maggie Smith in \u201cDownton Abbey.\u201d \u00a9PBS\/Courtesy Everett Collection \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n Raquel Cassidy, Kevin Doyle, Sophie McShera, Phyllis Logan, Lesley Nicol, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt in \u201cDownton Abbey: The Grand Finale.\u201d \u00a9Focus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Harry is currently estranged from his family<\/a>, including dad King Charles III and brother Prince William, after he and wife Meghan Markle quit their royal duties in 2020 and fled the UK for California.<\/p>\n During the Christmas luncheon, Harry, who shares son Archie, 6, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, with Markle, 44, spoke about living in the US as a Brit. <\/p>\n \u201cFor me, being British isn\u2019t about where you physically stand, but what you stand for,\u201d he said to the crowd, before explaining what it\u2019s been like celebrating Fourth of July in America.<\/p>\n Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the 2024 ESPY Awards. Getty Images for W+P<\/p>\n Prince William and Prince Harry attend an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving in 2018. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a new world to me, celebrating independence from Britain, and more specifically, independence from my great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfather,\u201d Harry shared.<\/p>\n Harry has been back to the UK numerous times since his permanent move, including in September when he and his father, 77, met <\/a>for the first time in more than a year. <\/p>\n After the meeting, Harry told reporters that Charles \u2014 who was diagnosed with cancer<\/a> last year \u2014 is \u201cdoing great.\u201d<\/p>\n Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and King Charles during Trooping the Colour 2018. Getty Images<\/p>\n Harry was also in London in April for a two-day court hearing for his case against the UK government to win back taxpayer-funded security for him and his family.<\/p>\n