Prince Harry and Meghan Markle held an intimate christening for their daughter Princess Lilibet at their home in California and the Royal Family didn’t attend.
Princess Lilibet was christened at her home in Montecito, California, with her parents Prince Harry and Meghan Markle opting for a very intimate ceremony.
The youngster, who is celebrating her third birthday today, was baptised on March 3, 2023, in California. The event was worlds away from the christening of her big brother Prince Archie, with Lilibet’s christening being described as small and intimate.
Lilibet’s big day was attended by her family in America and a very special celebrity guest, however, no members of the Royal Family made the trip over. Here, we’ve taken a look inside her special day.
There were only around 20 to 30 guests at Princess Lilibet’s intimate christening. Harry and Meghan attended alongside Meghan’s mum Doria Ragland and they even had a celebrity on the guestlist – filmmaker Tyler Perry.
The Royal Family were noticeably absent from the special day. It’s believed King Charles and Prince William even declined an invitation to the christening. At the time, sources claimed Queen Camilla and Princess Kate were also invited to the service.
A source previously told the Mirror: “To have the two most senior royals and their wives fly to the States for Lilibet’s christening would have been a massive operation both in terms of security and planning. Under the cardinal rule for royal travel, Charles and William cannot fly together so it would have needed at least two flights to have them attend.”
Meghan’s father Thomas Markle Snr was also left off the guestlist. While the pair had a close bond as the Duchess of Sussex was growing up, they’ve now been estranged since before her wedding to Harry.
Godparents
Lilibet’s godparents included Tyler Perry and an unnamed godmother. He opened up about the moment the Sussexes asked him to be a godfather on Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries.
He admitted he initially had reservations about travelling to the UK for a big celebration. Tyler said: “I take a minute to take that in, and I thought I’d be honoured. I’d absolutely be honoured.
“And I got off the phone, took it all in, then I called them back, I go ‘Ah hold on a second, does this mean we got to go over there and do all of that in the church with them and figure all that out, because I don’t want to do that. Maybe we can do a little private ceremony here and let that be that and if you have to do it there then it’s OK’.”
Special celebrations
Guests were treated to a delicious spread after the christening and enjoyed dancing at Harry and Meghan’s mansion. Prince Archie certainly enjoyed his sister’s christening, with People reporting at the time that he was seen dancing with his younger sibling.
There was also a performance by a 10-person gospel choir, who flew in from Atlanta for the celebration. The choir was arranged by Tyler Perry and performed songs including “Oh Happy Day” and “This Little Light Of Mine”.