After months of speculation about who Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have chosen to be the godparents to their firstborn child, Archie Harrison, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made a formal announcement – and no, it’s not confirming George and Amal Clooney were the lucky couple.
Overnight, the royal family confirmed that Baby Archie’s christening will take place this weekend, on Saturday 6th July. While it didn’t mention whether Queen Elizabeth will be in attendance or not – rumours have it she is missing the important family occasion due to scheduling conflicts – but it did reveal that unlike Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children, Archie’s godparents will remain private.
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“Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor will be christened in a small private ceremony by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday, July 6th,” the statement via Buckingham Palace reads. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex look forward to sharing some images taken on the day by photographer Chris Allerton. The godparents, in keeping with their wishes, will remain private.”
The announcement comes after reports of Meghan and Harry’s desire to give Archie as normal of an upbringing as possible. “My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life,” Harry once said, per a recent Vanity Fair report. “I am determined to have a relatively ordinary life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.”
It also goes hand in hand with the couple’s decision to not give Archie, who’s seventh in line for the throne and will likely never be king, a royal title. Rather than ‘His Royal Highness’, ‘Prince’ or even ‘Earl’, the newborn’s full name is just Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, no frills necessary.
“I think they have done this with the intention that they want Archie to live a normal life,” royal historian, Professor Kate Williams told Vanity Fair. She went on to say that unlike his cousins, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, Archie will likely one day have a career and a job.
Keeping Archie’s life private is all well and good, but it does nothing to help the fact that we basically had bets placed on who was going to secure the coveted position as his official godparents. If you’d like to keep guessing in the hopes that photos from the day will give it away, take a look at our comprehensive list of top contenders.
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