Inside Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s ‘Palace of Secrets’: New York’s Carlyle hotel, where Princess Diana once shared a lift with Michael Jackson and Steve Jobs
- So nicknamed for its privacy, the hotel has hosted royals like Prince William and Kate Middleton, US presidents, and celebrities from Roger Federer to Naomi Campbell
- Met Gala and Tonys after-parties have spilled into its lounges and bars, and the historic Bemelmans Bar even inspired Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel
If lift walls could talk, they would have stories to tell about the Carlyle hotel. But you certainly wouldn’t hear them from staff.
Built in 1930 and located on the corner of Madison Avenue and 76th Street on the Upper East Side, the Carlyle Hotel has earned a reputation as a hideout for royalty, politicians and celebrities.
Carlyle Hotel staff are famously close-lipped about what goes on inside the hotel walls, leading to The New York Times giving the 188-room hotel its famous nickname.
In 2018, a documentary called Always the Carlyle by Matthew Miele revealed never-before-shared stories of some of the hotel’s most distinguished guests, one of whom was Princess Diana.
As her marriage to Prince Charles dissolved leading up to their divorce in 1996, she took more solo trips to the city, often staying at the Carlyle.