PEOPLE exclusively confirms that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex held a christening for their 21-month-old daughter last Friday in a small and intimate ceremony at their home in Montecito, California.
When reached by PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said: “I can confirm that Princess Lilibet Diana was christened on Friday, March 3 by the bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the Rev John Taylor.”
According to a source, Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, extended an invite to King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton, but they were not in attendance.
After their grandfather became monarch following the death of Queen Elizabeth last September, Archie, 3, and Lilibet were afforded the titles of prince and princess under rules set out by King George V in 1917. PEOPLE understands that the palace will update their website to reflect Archie and Lili’s titles, which are currently listed as “Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor” and “Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.”
“The children’s titles have been a birthright since their grandfather became monarch,” a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told PEOPLE. “This matter has been settled for some time in alignment with Buckingham Palace.”
An insider tells PEOPLE there were between 20-30 guests at Friday’s intimate gathering, including Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, Lilibet’s godfather, Tyler Perry, and an unnamed godmother. Following the ceremony, attendees were treated to an afternoon of food and dancing — with Archie enjoying a dance with his little sister!
Perry was spotted arriving in Montecito last week ahead of the christening. He flew in for the ceremony from his home in Atlanta with a 10-person gospel choir that sang “Oh Happy Day” and “This Little Light of Mine” — a song that was played at Meghan and Harry’s wedding.
“I’ve said before that I’ve wanted a family, not an institution—so of course, I would love nothing more than for our children to have relationships with members of my family, and they do with some, which brings me great joy,” Harry said.
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Harry also opened up about his children’s special visit with their great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth before her death in his memoir, Spare.
“I couldn’t stop picturing them with Granny. The final visit. Archie making deep, chivalrous bows, his baby sister Lilibet cuddling the monarch’s shins. Sweetest children, Granny said, sounding bemused. She’d expected them to be a bit more . . . American, I think? Meaning, in her mind, more rambunctious,” Harry wrote.
In December, Tyler Perry revealed that he is godfather to Lilibet, who was born on June 4, 2021, in Santa Barbara, California.
The filmmaker recalled in the final episode of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan that the couple asked him to accept the role in 2021 after Lili was born.
Perry said Harry and Meghan “were pretty serious on the phone” when they called to ask when usually their chats are more lighthearted.
“I go, ‘Okay, what’s going on?’ They said, ‘Well, we’d like for you to be Lili’s godfather.’ I go, ‘Whoa,’ ” Perry, who offered his California home to the couple after they left the U.K. in 2020, continued. “I had to take a minute to take that in.”
“And I thought, ‘I’d be honored. I’d absolutely be honored,’ ” he added.
Source: https://people.com