Serena Williams Reveals Why She Won’t Be At Baby Archie’s Christening, Despite Meghan Markle Friendship
Serena Williams has revealed that she won’t be attending baby Archie’s christening on Saturday. During an interview on Thursday, the tennis champ said that she will be playing at Wimbledon on Saturday so she won’t be able to attend the service in the private chapel at Windsor Castle.
“No, I’m working on Saturday, but yeah, she understands work,” she said of Meghan, Entertainment Tonight reports.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Meghan attended one of Serena’s games on Thursday and Serena said that she knew the Duchess of Sussex was there.
“Yes, I knew she was there,” she continued. “It’s always exciting to know that she’s come out to watch and support the tennis. I was happy.”
This likely puts Serena out of the running to be one of Archie’s godparents. While it’s typical for the godparents of royal children to be disclosed to the public beforehand, Meghan and Harry have decided not to do so to protect their privacy. This decision has triggered anger in some quarters, The Inquisitr reported, with some royal commentators arguing that the public has likely already heard of these people before because of their presumable closeness to Meghan and Harry.
The Independent notes that although Archie’s godparents don’t want their names publicized, it could happen anyway thanks to an old Church of England rule. The details of baptisms in every parish are recorded and made public, but a rep for the church said that special concessions are often made for the British royal family.
“The register to be used in this case is held privately by the royal household on behalf of the Crown and we understand that it has never complied with the usual requirement,” they said.
Harry and Meghan have also decided not to have media photographers there to document the arrivals of the royals and Archie’s godparents. This is in keeping with their ongoing efforts to give their child as normal of an upbringing as they can.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex notably decided to ditch the immediate post-delivery photo-op in favor of a more low-key photocall days later with one reporter and one cameraman. They’ve also decided not to use their son’s courtesy titles just yet.
Serena Williams won’t be the only notable absence at the christening. Archie’s great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, won’t be there either due to a scheduling conflict, The Express reports. His grandmother, Doria Ragland, is expected to attend, however.
