Actor Tyler Perry is one of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s most loyal supporters, and after it was revealed that he was the godfather of their daughter Lilibet, it raises the question of whether the couple could have planned her christening at home with him. .
The 53-year-old actor, who said he was “honored” to be asked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to be Lilibet’s best man last year, enjoyed an afternoon of eating and dancing with the family after flying on a private jet on Friday, bringing with him a 10-person Gospel Choir from his home in Atlanta.
During the party, the choir serenaded 20 to 30 guests with songs like Oh Happy Day and This Little Light of Mine, which were also played at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. People informed.
The Sussexes threw Lilibet’s party in Santa Barbara, at which Perry was a major guest as her best man, and in December, when the Hollywood titan appeared in the couple’s Netflix documentary, he revealed that he would only agree to be best man if I didn’t. he will have to travel to the UK for a christening.
The billionaire filmmaker suggested he didn’t want to partake in the pomp and circumstance of a traditional royal ceremony, telling the couple’s Netflix documentary series bombshell that he didn’t want to “do all that in church with them and calculate everything “. that was.’
Tyler Perry flew in a private jet to attend Lilibet’s intimate christening ceremony in Montecito on Friday.
Speaking of the moment Harry and Meghan asked him to serve as best man, Perry recalled: “They were very serious on the phone and I said, ‘Okay, what’s going on,’ and they said, ‘Well, we’d like for you to be the godfather of Lili.
“I had to take a minute to take that in and I thought it would be an honor, absolutely an honor.”
However, after thinking about what his role as best man could mean, Perry says he made it clear to the couple that he did not want to travel to the UK to take part in a traditional christening ceremony with the royals.
The Duchess of Sussex and the Duke of Sussex reportedly had an intimate ceremony at their mansion (pictured at the 2020 Invictus Games)
Perry said he was “honored” to be asked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to be the best man to Lilibet (pictured) last year.
“I got off the phone and took it all in and then called them back and said, ‘Wait a second, does that mean we have to go over there and do all of that in church with them and figure all of that out?’ outside? Because I don’t want to do that.
“Maybe we can do a private ceremony here and let that be it and if you have to do it there then that’s fine.”
The director added that he would rather have done a private ceremony in California.
Last weekend Perry, who lent the Sussexes his $18m (£15m) mansion in Beverly Hills in 2020, was seen arriving at his $14.7m (£12m) Montecito home.
Perry, who reportedly donned a suit for the occasion, traveled with a bodyguard.
He was seen jumping out of his $200,000 (£169,000) Lamborghini Urus and then onto his $125m (£105m) private jet in Los Angeles.
Traditionally, children born into the royal family are christened at one of the royal residences, and Harry and Meghan chose to host Archie’s ceremony at Windsor Castle in July 2019.
However, after the birth of their daughter Lilibet, the couple decided not to travel to the UK for the christening, with sources at the time saying they would “probably” opt for a California ceremony near their home in Montecito.
Perry played a central role in the final three episodes of the Meghan and Harry docuseries, in which she revealed how she ended up offering the couple her $18 million Beverly Hills home when they needed a place to stay in March 2020.
Perry revealed that she refused to travel to the UK for a christening ceremony with the royal family and would have preferred an event in California.
Harry (seen with newborn Lilibet) and Meghan asked Perry to be their daughter’s godfather after he came to their aid in March 2020 and lent them his Beverly Hills home.
Speaking of the moment Harry and Meghan asked him to serve as best man, Perry recalled: “They were very serious on the phone and I said, ‘Okay, what’s going on,’ and they said, ‘Well, we’d like for you to be the godfather of Lili”
During the last three episodes of the documentary, the couple shared several new images and videos of their daughter.
The director and actor explained that he contacted Meghan before the Sussexes’ wedding in May 2018, having seen some of the negative stories about her father, Thomas Markle.
An informant said PEOPLE: ‘There were between 20 and 30 guests at the intimate gathering on Friday, including Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, Lilibet’s godfather, Tyler, and an unidentified godmother.
“After the ceremony, attendees enjoyed an evening of food and dancing, with Archie enjoying a dance with his little sister!”
When making his appearance on the Netflix docuseries, Perry admitted, “I’m not a real watcher, I don’t really pay attention to a lot of things.”
However, addressing how he became involved with the Sussexes, he said: “I saw something about his father (posing for paparazzi). I found it would be painful if he was my father.
“And I couldn’t even imagine this woman finding the man she loved, the man of her dreams, and him being a prince, and then going into all this madness and needing the safety of family and then having your father do it.” . some horrible things.
Although the couple didn’t immediately connect, Meghan says she finally turned to Tyler two years later when she and Harry found themselves in need of a home, having decided they needed to leave their temporary residence in Canada amid the coronavirus pandemic. COVID.
“That’s where Tyler came into the picture,” he recalled. ‘She had never met him before. He sent me a letter before the wedding saying that he was praying for me. And that if he ever needed anything, he would be there.
‘Months and months and months passed. And then one day when we were in Canada, I called him. Finally, after years at that point.
‘(It was) the first time we spoke. And I was a mess, I was crying and crying. Sometimes it’s easier to just open up to someone who doesn’t know anything at all. And that was that moment with me and Tyler.
