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How Idris Elba Ended Up DJ-ing the Royal Wedding

Idris Elba. Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

If you kept up with all the gossip from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal wedding last May, you’ve likely read that Idris Elba was there, and that he DJ’ed, as Idris Elba does.

But one does not simply roll up to a royal wedding and start spinning tracks, even if one is People’s Sexiest Man Alive. So how did he get the gig?

In an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show on Wednesday, Elba said that he was personally asked by Prince Harry himself, in a very chill, nonchalant way.

“Harry and I, we’ve hung out a couple of times through his dad — his dad’s charity The Prince’s Trust helped me out as a young actor. So I do a lot of work with them, Harry and Prince William a few times,” he told Ellen. “And Harry came to a couple of parties that I DJ’ed, and he was like, ‘Hey man, what are you doing on the date [May 19]’ And I was like, ‘Nothing.’ He goes, ‘Hmm, would you DJ at my wedding?’ I was like, ‘Is this a joke? Are you joking?’ And he’s like, ‘Serious.’”

Nope, not a joke, apparently. In fact, he said about the gig, “It was great.”

Elba, if you didn’t know, has long had a passion for DJ-ing. In fact, he’s also set to DJ at Coachella this year, which will likely include a vastly different crowd from Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Kate Middleton, but surely DJ Driis will do just fine.

How Idris Elba Ended Up DJ-ing the Royal Wedding