Errol Carter Kelly is the son of Amy Carter and John Joseph “Jay” Kelly and a grandson of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Unlike several older members of the Carter family, Errol has not built a public profile of his own. Most reliable information about him comes from family records, official memorial programs and a detailed account of his participation in Scouting.
Publications identifying Amy Carter’s family report that Errol was born in 2010. Because a reliable public source does not provide his exact birth date, that means he is 15 or 16 as of August 2026, rather than supporting a more precise age. Town & Country identifies him as Amy and Jay Kelly’s son born in 2010, while ABC News also names Errol Carter Kelly as their son.
Who is Errol Carter Kelly?
Errol belongs to the generation of the Carter family born decades after Jimmy Carter left the White House. His mother, Amy Lynn Carter, is the youngest of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s four children and lived in the White House during her father’s presidency from 1977 to 1981. ABC News reports that Amy later married James Wentzel and had a son, Hugo James Wentzel, before remarrying Jay Kelly and having Errol.
The basic family relationship is unusually well documented because Errol’s full name appears in official programs for both of his grandparents’ memorial ceremonies. Rosalynn Carter’s 2023 tribute program lists Errol Carter Kelly among the grandchildren of Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter, while the program for Jimmy Carter’s January 2025 state funeral includes him among the honorary pallbearers.
| Detail | Publicly documented information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Errol Carter Kelly |
| Birth year | 2010 |
| Mother | Amy Lynn Carter |
| Father | John Joseph “Jay” Kelly |
| Maternal grandparents | Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter |
| Older half-brother | Hugo James Wentzel |
| Documented youth activity | Scouting |
| Notable public appearances | Rosalynn Carter’s 2023 tribute service; Jimmy Carter’s 2025 funeral ceremonies |
The table deliberately stops there. Reliable public sources do not establish details such as an exact birthday, current school, home address or future career plans, and those are especially unnecessary details to speculate about for someone who is still a teenager.
His parents: Amy Carter and Jay Kelly
Amy Carter attracted national attention long before Errol was born. She was nine years old when Jimmy Carter became president in January 1977 and spent part of her childhood in the White House. In adulthood, however, her family life has generally received far less routine press coverage.
ABC News reported in January 2025 that Amy first married James Wentzel in 1996 and had Hugo James Wentzel in 1999. After that marriage ended, she married Jay Kelly; their son is Errol Carter Kelly. Town & Country gives the marriage year as 2007 and Errol’s birth year as 2010.
Errol and Hugo are therefore maternal half-brothers. Hugo is more than a decade older and became independently visible to television audiences when he competed on ABC’s Claim to Fame in 2023, while the public material involving Errol has largely concerned family ceremonies and Scouting.
A rare detailed account: Errol’s Scouting trip to Plains
The most informative first-hand reporting about Errol’s childhood comes from On Scouting, an official Scouting publication.
In an article published April 3, 2023, writer Aaron Derr reported that Errol was a 12-year-old First Class Scout in Troop 101 in Atlanta. The troop had spent a weekend in Plains, Georgia, late in the previous year, visiting places connected with Jimmy Carter’s childhood and presidency.
The Scouts camped near the Carter historic site, visited Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm and school, painted a fence on National Park Service property and helped collect pecans for distribution to people experiencing food insecurity. They also worked on the Fingerprinting merit badge with a Secret Service agent who was an Eagle Scout.
Errol’s connection made the trip different from an ordinary historical visit. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter joined the Scouts for part of their afternoon walk, and photographs published with the story show Errol walking beside his grandmother. The article says he spent much of that walk helping Rosalynn Carter remain steady on the paved trail.
The story also contains a direct explanation from Amy Carter for why Scouting appealed to her family. She said, “I wanted Errol to have a civics education.” She added that he enjoyed the camping and adventures offered by the troop. The same account says Amy and Jay Kelly were both involved in Troop 101 activities.
The episode provides more useful information about Errol than speculative online biographies do: at age 12, he was participating in Scouting, community-service work and a visit focused on American and family history.
His role at Rosalynn Carter’s 2023 tribute service
Rosalynn Carter died on November 19, 2023. Nine days later, on November 28, a major tribute service was held at Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University in Atlanta.
Errol had a specific role in the ceremony. The official service program names him as the reader of Matthew 5:6–8, a passage from the Beatitudes. It also lists him, alongside Jason Carter, among grandchildren serving as presenters and includes him among Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s honorary-pallbearer grandchildren.
Associated Press photography from the event independently records Errol walking past his grandmother’s casket after reading scripture.
That appearance was considerably more visible than his earlier Scouting activities, because the tribute brought together the Carter family, President Joe Biden, political leaders and former first ladies. Yet Errol’s participation was ceremonial rather than the beginning of a public career.
Errol Carter Kelly at Jimmy Carter’s funeral
Jimmy Carter died on December 29, 2024, at age 100. His state funeral at Washington National Cathedral took place on January 9, 2025.
The cathedral’s official funeral program lists Errol Carter Kelly as one of the honorary pallbearers, together with other Carter grandchildren, including Jason James Carter, Hugo James Wentzel, Joshua Jeffrey Carter and others.
This is one of the most recent authoritative public records involving Errol. Importantly, it documents his participation in a family ceremony; it does not establish details about his current education, occupation or private life in 2026.
Why some online descriptions of Errol conflict
Readers researching Errol may encounter inconsistent descriptions in image metadata from Rosalynn Carter’s 2023 service.
For example, a Reuters Connect page carrying a pool photograph describes Errol as Rosalynn Carter’s “granddaughter.” That wording conflicts with other established sources. ABC News explicitly describes Errol as Amy Carter and Jay Kelly’s son, and Town & Country likewise identifies Amy as having a son named Errol.
The official Rosalynn Carter program avoids the discrepancy by identifying Errol simply as a grandchild, while confirming his full name and place within the family.
Because a wire-photo caption and multiple family-biography sources disagree, it is better not to build broader claims about Errol’s personal identity from that isolated caption. The well-supported biographical description is that Errol Carter Kelly is Amy Carter and Jay Kelly’s son and a grandchild of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
What can responsibly be said about Errol today?
As of 2026, Errol is still a teenager. The strongest sources document a relatively small number of facts: his parentage, his 2010 birth year, his involvement with Troop 101 at age 12, his scripture reading at Rosalynn Carter’s tribute service and his inclusion among the honorary pallbearers at Jimmy Carter’s state funeral.
They do not provide a reliable basis for claims about a current profession, college plans, romantic relationships, finances, personal social-media accounts or a current place of residence. Pages that attach such details to Errol without strong sourcing go beyond what the public record establishes.
That distinction matters because Errol is known principally through his connection to one of America’s most prominent political families, not because he has chosen a public profession. The most substantial published account of him remains the Scouting story—an ordinary youth activity made historically unusual by a weekend spent in Plains with his grandparents.
Quellen
- On Scouting — Aaron Derr, “Before entering hospice, Jimmy Carter joined his grandchild’s Scout troop on a walk,” April 3, 2023.
Open source - Rosalynn Carter Tribute — Official Glenn Memorial Church service program, service dated November 28, 2023.
Open official program - ABC News — Yi-Jin Yu, “Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100: What to know about his kids, grandkids,” January 9, 2025.
Open source - Washington National Cathedral — Official state funeral program for James Earl Carter Jr., service dated January 9, 2025.
Open official program - Town & Country — Emily Burack, “Meet Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter’s Children,” January 9, 2025.
Open source - Reuters Connect — Pool photograph and caption from Rosalynn Carter’s tribute service, photograph dated November 28, 2023.
Open source - Read also Karen Carney Wife: Is the Former Lioness Married? Everything About Her Relationship Status