Trevor Noah Opened the 2021 Grammys With a Joke About Buckingham Palace

He hosted "music's biggest night" exactly a week after Meghan and Harry's earth-shattering Oprah interview.

trevor noah 2021 grammys royal family joke
(Image credit: Kevin Mazur)

For the second Sunday night in a row, all eyes are glued to CBS—and while, this time around, the night's big event is the 2021 Grammy Awards, rather than a potentially earth-shattering conversation between Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and Oprah Winfreythat shocking discussion is clearly still top of mind. In his opening monologue, which was delivered not in the usual overcrowded Staples Center but on a nearby outdoor stage in front of an incredibly sparse crowd, host Trevor Noah made sure to throw in a quick joke about the aftermath of last week's bombshell interview.

While walking away from the tent-covered stage to introduce the night's first live performers, Noah mentioned that the famous attendees at the first location were likely impatient to get the show started. "There's more tension in that tent than a family reunion at Buckingham Palace." Honestly, he's got a point: By most reports, Buckingham Palace is less than thrilled with Meghan and Harry's decision to spill the beans on what they described as the truly isolating and even occasionally racist behavior they experienced before stepping down as senior royals last year.

Mere minutes later, after Harry Styles had kicked off the night's stacked slate of performances with a gloriously ab-baring rendition of "Watermelon Sugar," Noah tossed out yet another jab at the U.K., registering his (understandable) shock that "someone that handsome is from the same place as Boris Johnson." Zing!

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(Image credit: marie claire)
Andrea Park

Andrea Park is a Chicago-based writer and reporter with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the extended Kardashian-Jenner kingdom, early 2000s rom-coms and celebrity book club selections. She graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism in 2017 and has also written for W, Brides, Glamour, Women's Health, People and more.