George and Amal Clooney arrive for Royal Wedding ceremony
The film star today turns 60 today, and for many he still embodies the coolness, swagger and beauty that he has exuded throughout his long career on screen. Throughout his life Clooney – who made his TV debut in 1978 as an extra on miniseries Centennial – has developed a huge number of celebrity friendships, including with the likes of Hollywood royalty Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Nicole Kidman. But his relationship with a different kind of royalty saw him thrust once again into the spotlight, after he attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Alongside his wife Amal, the pair witnessed the Queen’s grandson marry Meghan, who herself enjoyed a career in acting, at a spectacular ceremony in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, three years ago.
Although there had been a suggestion that George and Amal “didn’t know” the newlyweds well, the two couples’ closeness has been demonstrated on a number of occasions in the years since they tied the knot.
According to pro-Sussex biography Finding Freedom, one of these episodes meant Harry had to take a private outing on one of George’s motorbikes without the star as the Oscar-winner was suffering from a previous accident.
The book claims that the couples met up at the Clooneys’ idyllic Italian villa in Lake Como, just months after the royal wedding.
George Clooney forced to snub Prince Harry outing leaving Duke to make private trip (Image: GETTY)
George Clooney turns 60 years old today (Image: GETTY)
Among the other guests to visit the home, which some say is worth an eye-watering £100million, included Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie.
According to a source, George had arranged for Harry and Meghan to fly out from London to Italy in his private jet, where they were then picked up by an unmarked car and driven away from Milan’s airport.
Prior to the visit in August 2018, George was still recovering from a motorbike accident in Sardinia, which left the star hospitalised.
Reports at the time suggested George’s condition, sustained while he was filming TV series Catch-22, was not life-threatening, and he would later return back to the Lake Como villa.
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George Clooney and Alma were guests at the royal wedding (Image: GETTY)
Harry and George share a love of motorbikes and, while Meghan and Amal “spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool”, the Duke “checked out” the Hollywood star’s motorbike collection.
They added: “Harry took one of them out with one of his protection officers.
“George recently had an accident, so he wasn’t back on his bike yet.’
“The Duke and Duchess weren’t the only guests that weekend.
“Eugenie and her fiance, Jack Brooksbank, were already at the villa when Harry and Meghan arrived, their visits overlapping briefly.”
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George Clooney and Alma are now close with the Sussexes (Image: GETTY)
And although they appeared to have forged a strong bond, a journalist claimed that prior to the royal wedding in 2018, the Clooneys admitted they weren’t that close with the Sussexes.
Among the guests at the wedding included other celebrities such as Sir Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham, Idris Elba, Oprah Winfrey and Meghan’s castmates from the US show Suits.
In the ceremony, George and Amal were given a “prime pew” to watch the service, and sat next to Lady Carolyn Warren, whose husband John is the Queen’s bloodstock adviser.
But journalist Rachel Johnson detailed a story “doing the rounds” regarding the couples’ relationship.
Royal weddings across the generations (Image: EXPRESS)
Ms Johnson claimed that Carolyn Bartholomew – a lady who shared a London flat with Harry’s mother Princess Diana – had been “waiting for the wedding service to start” and struck up a conversation with the Clooneys.
Carolyn, who is also Harry’s godmother, asked them “how they knew Harry or Meghan”.
The journalist added: “‘We don’t’, the Clooneys answered brightly.”
But the Clooneys were invited, along with 200 guests, to the evening reception, which took place at Frogmore House.
Reports from the time suggest George was the last man on the dancefloor at the celebration and danced with both Harry’s wife and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.
