Justin Welby quotes Stormzy to sooth Royal Wedding nerves

The archbishop of Canterbury is taking inspiration from grime artist Stormzy's song Blinded By Your Grace to calm any Royal Wedding nerves. 

Justin Welby, 62, will officiate at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19 and has admitted to being nervous.

Asked what he was doing to prepare and keep calm the archbishop, who is the most senior cleric in the Church of England, quoted a line from the south London artist.

'There's a line in that - "I stay prayed up and get the job done" - I think that sort of sums it up,' he told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire.

He told presenter Lorna Bailey: 'I'm always nervous at weddings because it is such an important day for the couple - whoever they are.'

He added: 'I've made a couple of cack-handed mistakes over the last couple of weddings I've been involved in and I'm thinking this is probably not a good moment to make it a hat-trick.'

Justin Welby has spoken about his nerves ahead of the Royal Wedding later this month. ITV

The last wedding Welby officiated at, for his head of communications at Lambeth Palace, he dropped one of the rings. And in the one before, for his daughter, he gave the vows in the wrong order during the rehearsal.

Welby has been involved in preparing the royal couple for the wedding and officiated when Meghan was baptised into the Church of England in a secret ceremony he described as 'beautiful' and 'very special'.

In a 20-minute interview for BBC Coventry, where Welby was previously canon and sub-dean at the cathedral for 15 years, he chose two songs to play. The first was Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer, the second was Stormzy's Blinded By Your Grace. 

News
18 church leaders arrested in China as part of crackdown
18 church leaders arrested in China as part of crackdown

Christians in China have long faced harassment from the authorities.

Less than half of American adults say religion is important - study
Less than half of American adults say religion is important - study

Despite less than half of Americans ranking religion as an important part of their daily life, America is still more devout when it comes to religion than its economic peers, such as the United Kingdom or Germany, new data from Gallup shows.

Report shows huge contribution of faith communities to Welsh society
Report shows huge contribution of faith communities to Welsh society

The Evangelical Alliance has produced a report showing the impact that faith communities are having in Wales.

Church historian highlights challenges and opportunities for evangelicalism in a changing world
Church historian highlights challenges and opportunities for evangelicalism in a changing world

A leading church historian has warned that the public image of evangelicals is being distorted by US politics, even as the movement experiences rapid growth and renewed vitality across the Global South.