Prince George’s christening is ‘ hugely important’

Prince George’s christening is ”the next hugely important moment” in his life, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The three-month-old royal will have a low-key baptism on October 23 and Most Rev Justin Welby is delighted the child is joining two billion people worldwide in the ”family of the church” during a ceremony which will take place at St James’s Palace.

In a video message the Archbishop said: ”All through Christian history, for 2,000 years, being baptised meant to join the family of the church and that’s what it means today.

”Prince George will be the head of State of numerous countries around the world, he will visit more countries than most of us will ever do, and in all of them there will be those who, like him, have been baptised.”

The son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is the third in line to the throne – after Prince Charles and his father Prince William – and the Archbishop believes this service will be a day that will go down in history.

He explained: ”All babies are unbelievably special, not only royal babies. As a nation we are celebrating the birth of someone who will in due course be the head of State. That’s extraordinary. It gives you the sense of the forwardness of history as well as the backwardness.”

He also hopes that the ceremony will attract other people to the faith.

He added: ”Of course, the great good news is that God doesn’t care who we are. It’s for adults and children.

”And there may be people wondering: ‘I wonder if that’s at all possible for me or for my family or for my child or for all of us together?’

”And the answer is it’s not just possible, it’s extremely easy.”