'I was crying on my flight home — then Prince Harry said three words I'll cherish forever'

A woman returning home after burying her grandmother has revealed she was comforted by Prince Harry on the commercial flight home. Justine Parkhurst was in tears on the plane from Sydney as she grieved her nan, whose funeral she had just attended, when she noticed the Duke of Sussex was sat next to her. Harry, 41, offered the stranger words of comfort mid-air. 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 only by huge fate Justine was on the flight on Saturday as she and her husband were booked for Friday's journey, but made a late switch. They were then also bumped up to the first-class cabin on the American Airlines twin-jet Boeing 777-300ER, the section in which Harry and Meghan Markle were travelling after their Australian tour . But following her conversation with the prince, Justine believes her grandmother is looking down on her and arranged the fortune. 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." Justine saw two plain-clothed men with guns under their jackets as she waited to board the plane. Taxpayers reportedly covered security costs for Meghan and Harry's four-day trip last week. For the last leg of which, the couple stayed at InterContinental Coogee Beach Hotel, which is an approximate 20-minute drive from the Sydney Airport. 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, sat across the aisle from Harry in a single pod. It left her husband, whom she married in 2018, in a middle‑aisle seat, which meant he was next to Justine. She was heading back to her home in North Carolina, via Los Angeles, following the poignant trip to Australia , where her grandmother resided. Harry and Meghan's trip, on the other hand, was a controversial faux-royal visit. Despite some philanthropic engagements, the majority of Australians — 81 per cent — declared in a survey this week the tour did not improve their view of the couple at all.