Westminster Abbey Reportedly Won't Ring Its Bells for Meghan Markle's Birthday

Westminster Abbey will not ring its bells on Meghan Markle or Prince Harry's birthdays this year.

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  • Later this month, on August 4, Meghan Markle will celebrate her 39th birthday.
  • Now that she and Prince Harry have stepped back from their duties as senior working royals, Meghan's birthday reportedly won't be marked by the bells ringing at Westminster Abbey.
  • Royal sources revealed the intel to the Daily Mail's royal columnist Richard Eden. 

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have stepped back from their lives as working royals, which means fewer responsibilities but also fewer royal perks. This summer, Meghan is reportedly going to be miss out on a royal birthday perk.

"I hear that Westminster Abbey will not ring its bells for Meghan’s birthday next month," Daily Mail royal correspondent Richard Eden wrote in his recent column. "To add insult to injury, it did ring them for the birthday of beleaguered Prince Andrew in February, even though he’d stepped down from royal duties."

Although the Abbey's bells won't ring for Meghan's 39th birthday on August 4, they will ring just 11 days later for Princess Anne's birthday. 

"The bells are usually rung to mark the birthdays of senior members of the Royal Family, and through the line of succession to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children," a spokesperson for Westminster Abbey explained to the Daily Mail.

According to the Westminster Abbey bell ringing calendar (which, yes, is a thing), the bells won't ring on Prince Harry's birthday on September 15, either.

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Kayleigh Roberts
Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.