Archie Harrison's Secret Godparents May Be Revealed After All

Earlier this week, a statement from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (opens in new tab) was released via Buckingham Palace regarding the christening details of their first son, Archie Harrison (opens in new tab). It was hardly surprising news that the often private royal couple (opens in new tab) were planning to keep their special day as low key as possible—particularly when it came to their choice of godparents.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed that they would be inviting a handful of guests to the celebrations of Archie’s birth, taking place this Saturday July 6, and that they would implement a ban on members of the press from taking photographs. The one detail which was unexpected however, came with the news that Meghan and Harry would be keeping the identities of Archie’s godparents a secret.

"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 6th July,” the statement read. “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."

Previously, there’s been speculation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may choose George and Amal Clooney to be godparents to Archie (opens in new tab), while Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, and Jessica Mulroney have also been thrown into the ring as potential A-list contenders, too. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll never know for sure.

Or will we? As Hello! notes (opens in new tab), the Church of England rules that details of all baptisms—including names of godparents—are in fact a matter of public record, and can be accessed with a paid fee. After all, Meghan and Harry similarly chose not to make Archie’s birth certificate immediately available to the public through the palace, but the certificate later became a public document as birth certificates are in the UK.

The catch is that there may be exceptions to that one when you’re a member of the actual royal family. As Archie’s christening is set to take place in a private royal chapel, the final decision on whether to release the information is still left to the Queen.

It would be nice to think that Meghan and Harry’s wishes for privacy around Archie’s godparents would be respected by the media, but if the godparent knowledge is up for grabs at any point, it’s safe to assume that we’ll hear about it the second it becomes available. Hold tight on that one...

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