James Corden Reveals Allergies Almost Made Him Sneeze During Royal Wedding

It was almost the sneeze heard ’round the world, but all ended well when Late Late Show host James Corden successfully suppressed letting one blow during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding ceremony.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Corden revealed on Monday’s show that he and his wife Julie were invited to the May 19 wedding in Windsor, England. During the discussion, Corden pointed out that he has bad allergies and knew there was going to be trouble during the ceremony once he saw there were flowers everywhere. What’s more, the 39-year-old TV host reportedly had to fight hard to keep sneezes from ruining the ambiance while royal vows were exchanged in front of the 600 lucky guests in attendance.

James Corden, who has been a friend of Prince Harry for about seven years, went on to discuss what an honor it was to be invited to the wedding, calling it “one of the most beautiful ceremonies” he’s ever been to. Unfortunately, for Corden, the organizers of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding didn’t adorn the ceremony with allergy-friendly flowers. Instead, wedding floral designer Craddock used flowers that bloom in May for the event, and those plants were probably the culprits behind Corden’s “near-achoo” moment.

Corden also explained that throughout most of the ceremony he just needed to sneeze. And, since no one really wanted to associate the televised royal wedding ceremony with mucus, he held back the urge to sneeze when he felt the tickle come on. The TV personality also let on that he battled the impending threat of sneezes all the way up until the Archbishop of Canterbury asked if there were any objections to the marriage.

James Corden hilariously told People that during the quiet moment when the archbishop spoke, he was saying to himself,

“Please don’t sneeze. Please don’t sneeze.”

Luckily, in the end, Corden was able to pull it off as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finished their famous “I dos” sans a sneezing fit. However, much ado was also made about his glum, “resting royal wedding face,” with the TV host explaining it away casually. In his defense, he said, “What face do you make whilst you’re watching a cellist in a church?”

And before anyone can say, “He’s never invited back to future royal events,” no one mentioned the “sacrifice” James Corden went through to keep his sneeze from becoming funny memes or a viral sensation. To explain, when he kept his body from ridding itself from those pesky allergens, he essentially stopped the velocity of air from leaving his lungs. That kind of force can range from 100 to 500 miles an hour. In fact, stopping a sneeze as a common courtesy can leave you with a host of serious medical conditions, ranging from damage to your inner ear to a full-blown aneurysm.

So, a special thanks from all of us, James Corden! You risked your health to keep Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding day beautiful.