By One of the most memorable moments from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding on Saturday was the sermon, which came from Bishop Michael Curry. Curry, the head of the Episcopal Church in the United States, gave a riveting, emotional, quintessentially American address, one that raised a few eyebrows in St. George’s Chapel.
But one Brit who raved abut the sermon was one who also presided over the day: the Archbishop of Canterbury. In an interview with Sky News after the wedding, he spoke effusively about Curry’s remarks, and noted they had been well-received by the royal family.
“I think what we saw in that is that preaching is not a past art, that the use of language to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ just blew the place open,” Welby said. “It was fantastic. And you could see people just caught up in it, and excited by it.”
Welby added that he hadn’t spoken to all of the royals, but he said the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. “[The royals] that I spoke to were really excited by it, and the people afterwards that we spoke to at the reception and other places were gripped by it,” he said. “This was raw God, and that’s the business.”
He even added that he spoke to a couple inspired to renew their vows thanks to Meghan and Harry’s wedding ceremony. “Someone said to me afterwards at the reception, ‘That was so stunning, I want to do the vows again with me and my husband,’” he said. “They were so captivated by that sense of love, and of love with a purpose. Not just selfish love, not sentimental, drippy stuff, but love with a purpose to change the world.”
Curry said he got a brief thank you from the “kind and gracious” couple at the reception, but he said he knew just by looking at them they were happy with his sermon. “During most of the sermon, we were making eye contact throughout,” he said. “And their eyes and their smiles and their reactions were talking back. Even though they weren’t talking, the way they looked at each other sent the message of, ‘These people are in love, for real.’”
