Bishop Michael Bruce Curry Initially Believed Royal Wedding Sermon Invite Was A Prank

Bishop Michael Bruce Curry believes in the power of love, but he almost didn’t believe he got an invite to preach at the royal wedding. Curry, who made headlines for his rousing 13-minute sermon at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, told Good Morning America he initially thought his invite to speak at the wedding was an April Fool’s joke.

In fact, Reverand Curry, 65, told GMA’s Robin Roberts that he was shocked to be asked to deliver the homily at the high-profile British wedding ceremony. Curry made history as the first American to ever preach at a British royal wedding.

“It was the decision of the couple, but they were in consultation both with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Dean of St. George’s and I’m sure others as well,” Curry said, according to People.

“I got a phone call, and I didn’t believe it, because a member of my staff called and said, ‘They’d like you to preach at the royal wedding,’ and I said, ‘Get out of here it’s April Fools. You’ve got to be kidding me.’ And it was actually true.”

Curry, who is the current presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, as well as the first African-American to serve in that capacity, also revealed that his role in the royal wedding was so top secret that he couldn’t even tell his wife “for about a month.”

Most Rev. Michael Curry delivered the show-stopping moment of the #RoyalWedding https://t.co/fo8z2r8AdY

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 19, 2018

Bishop Curry’s wide-ranging royal wedding spiel covered everything from the bride’s American heritage to the redemptive “power of love.” Curry even referenced “the old slaves in America’s Antebellum South,” and he proudly quoted Martin Luther King, Jr. in his passionate sermon, which went viral not only for its content, but also for its hilarious reactions from Kate Middleton, Zara Tindall, and Elton John.

Elton John at the #RoyalWedding as American Bishop Michael Curry delivers wedding address https://t.co/E0TQZpKGTB pic.twitter.com/CdmDEfODUr

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 19, 2018

In an interview with the Today show, Curry admitted he was “a little bit nervous” about his royal wedding sermon, but he confirmed he had “permissions” to cover the topics he did. The bishop was not put off by the “quiet” response from the royal wedding congregation, either, noting he could see a “quiet British amen” in the congregants’ eyes.

Still, when all was said and done, even Curry admitted he had a moment of doubt over how his homily was received by the royal wedding audience — and the world.

“I sat down, and I said to myself, ‘Well, I hope that was OK,'” he told Today.

You can see Bishop Michel Bruce Curry’s fiery sermon in its entirety below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLoGzo945S0&t=356s