Taylor Swift's British wedding guest takeover: How did Hugh Grant, Sir Paul McCartney and the bride's popstar rival Dua Lipa score a spot on the 'unhinged' invite list?

'Home is where the heart is, but god, I love the English,' once sang on her track London Boy, and proof of her love affair with the UK was evident in her wedding guest list.

After months of speculation Taylor married her NFL star beau in a wedding extravaganza at New York's Madison Square Garden on Friday night. 

The wedding was dripping in Americana, with Taylor choosing the Independence Day holiday weekend, and the iconic arena in the heart of her home city as the perfect venue in which to wed her American footballer fiancé.

But there was a small scale British and Irish invasion among the 1,000 guests.

Close friends and collaborators, alongside some more obscure names, were spotted making their way to the celebrations after Taylor joked that she hoped to invite 'anyone I've ever talked to'. 

Hugh Grant

Fans were left baffled when actor Hugh Grant was spotted among stars arriving at the bash, with X/ users stating Taylor and branding the guest list as 'unhinged.' 

However, Taylor and the iconic Brit romcom star have actually been friends for two years.

The pair connected after Hugh brought his wife Anna Eberstein and one of their daughters to Taylor's Eras Tour in June 2024. 

The singer had performed a trio of shows at London's iconic Wembley Stadium, where a slew of celebs were spotted, including the 65-year-old actor.

Shortly after the concert, the Notting Hill star took to X to shower praise upon Taylor and Travis - .

'Dear @taylorswift13, You have an incredible show, an amazing and v hospitable team and excellent if gigantic boyfriend (#tequilashots.). Thanks so much from one ageing London boy, wife and thrilled 8 year old #halfgirlhalfbracelet,' Hugh tweeted.

The post went viral, garnering more than 5.5 million views, 11K retweets and 169K likes in just over a day after posting. 

Hugh's tweet eventually caught Taylor's eye, who responded saying: 'As a long time Hugh Grant stan this tweet is very important to my culture.'

The following year, Taylor revealed that Travis had hung out with Hugh and Anna after the show, but in a cringeworthy moment, Travis had mistaken Anna for director Greta Gerwig. 

Cara Delevingne 

Cara and Taylor have been close friends for years after meeting at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in November 2013, where the singer performed and model Cara walked the runway.

Over the years the two have publicly supported each other's work endeavours with Cara spotted at one of Taylor's Eras Tour stops, before the US star attended one of the Brit's Cabaret shows in London. 

In 2024 the model revealed that she once lived with the singer.

'I was going through a really horrible breakup, and she let me live with her,' Cara told comedian Nikki Glaser for Interview magazine, before explaining how their long friendship has been a case of opposites attract.  

'We're very different people,' she said. 'She's very homely, because she looked after me so well, but we got into some—not trouble, but I definitely took her for a bit of a wild ride.'

Cara even joked that she would be the perfect friend to deliver a speech at the wedding, explaining how 'I've seen her do a speech at someone's wedding before and it was a roast.'

'She's one of the funniest, most clever people,' she continued. 'Anyone could roast her easily, but at the same time, she could f**k everyone up so hard. I could definitely roast her.'

Graham Norton

UK chat show king Graham was seen arriving at New York's John F Kennedy Airport on Wednesday with his husband Jono McLeod as they prepared to head to the wedding.

Graham was one of the few guests to tease his attendance in the months leading up to the wedding, after Taylor extended a very public invite.  

In October Taylor appeared on The Graham Norton Show - marking her first TV appearance since her August 2025 engagement to Travis - where Graham congratulated the singer on the news. 

'There's a lot to congratulate Taylor Swift about, but the one I feel I ought to congratulate is the new bit of finger jewelry,' he said, before prying about the then-impending wedding, asking, 'Is next year the wedding year?' 

'Oh, you'll know,' Taylor teased. 'So you're going big?' he asked. 'I just mean that I was going to invite you,' she replied to cheers from the crowd. 'If you're inviting me, it's very big,' Graham joked. 

In January 2026, Graham swiftly shut down wedding chatter during an appearance on the Wanging On podcast, insisting: 'I can say nothing. I've signed so many NDAs.'

Host Maria McErlane then joked she would be thrilled to be Graham's plus one, only for the presenter to fire back: 'Over my husband's dead body.'

Graham and Taylor have been friendly for years, with the singer making six appearances on Graham's show over the past decade. 

After her latest appearance on the show in 2025, Taylor made Graham's 'dreams come true' by asking him to appear in her nineties-themed music video for Opalite.

The presenter, 63, said the singer got the idea when sitting on his chat show red sofa for an interview, alongside Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, Domhnall Gleeson, and Lewis Capaldi.

Graham shared: 'I said to Taylor at the time, often in your 60s you begin to give up on your dream of appearing in a major pop video, but she made it happen for me… So, all in all, a really great experience.'

He added: 'I got an email saying Taylor Swift's people were interested in doing something, and I said, 'What the hell is that going to be?' Taylor had been on the show, and there were great vibes, and she literally got the idea when Domhnall Gleeson said he would like to dance in a Taylor Swift video.

'I didn't notice at the time, but when you look back at the clip, you can see her little face go. She went away and wrote up that whole mad story and asked us all to be in it. Surprise surprise, we all said yes!'

Ellie Goulding 

Taylor and fellow singer Ellie met for the first time on the Jonathan Ross Show in 2012.

'I was really nervous, because she's such a legend,' Ellie recalled years later, 'and I remember thinking, 'Please don't act like a t**t, Ellie - don't say anything stupid.''

Ellie was put at ease when Taylor then quoted one of her lesser known lyrics back to her.

Taylor later invited Ellie to join her as a special guest on her Red Tour in 2013 and later on the 1989 World Tour in 2015.

The collaborations continued with Ellie prominently featured as the character Destructa X in Taylor's star-studded Bad Blood music video in 2015.

For her part Ellie once played matchmaker for Taylor, pre-marriage, setting her up with her close pal Calvin Harris. The two went on to date for a year in 2015.

'Calvin is a really great mate and he's so fantastic, and Taylor is such a cool person who I love,' she explained at the time. 'I thought, 'They're both really awesome and both really tall. They'll be brilliant together.''

In their downtime Ellie has insisted that Taylor is one of her most down-to-earth pals, gushing: 'She's really funny. She's got a very British sense of humour. We love doing scenes from The Office.' 

Paul McCartney 

Taylor couldn't resist inviting one of her biggest idols to her wedding, Paul McCartney.

The Beatles legend even sang at the reception, crooning his band's 1963 hit I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Taylor has previously gushed that she is 'never not inspired' by the Brit icon, and was honoured to be chosen to interview him for a Rolling Stone cover story in 2020.

Sir Paul for his part admits he sees 'the parallel, you know the fame and the amount of fame. The worldwide fame that Taylor Swift has and that we had.' 

He then noted that the star doesn't need any advice from him, adding that he's like a 'grandad' to Taylor's generation.

It was Sir Paul's fashion designer daughter Stella and his wife Nancy Shevell who introduced the pair.

Sir Paul has revealed that they met, among other singers, including Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter at parties hosted by Nancy and Stella. 

The musician then attended one of her sold-out Eras Tour concerts at Wembley Stadium in June 2024, with Nancy before Taylor was a guest at his intimate concert in Los Angeles ahead of the release of his 2026 record The Boys of Dungeon Lane. 

Dua Lipa 

Just weeks after her own wedding to Callum Turner, Dua was spotted heading to Taylor's big day.

Back in 2018 the two pop stars enjoyed a close bond. Dua posted an Insta Stories photo that year of a sumptuous bouquet of indigo flowers Taylor had sent her, raving: 'Can't believe they last all year!'

However a question mark formed over their supposed friendship two years ago, when Dua made a remark that Swifties regarded as a thinly-veiled swipe at their idol.

'Some people are just so ruthless with their own private life that they decide to put it all out in a song because they know that it's going to attract people's attention,' The Brit remarked that September in an interview on 60 Minutes.

'For me, it was always important to make music that people really loved, not because I was putting someone on blast or not because I'm doing it for clickbait at someone else's expense,' added the New Rules hitmaker.

Given Taylor's well-known propensity to write songs aimed at exes ranging from Jake Gyllenhaal to Joe Alwyn, many of her fans assumed Dua was referring to her.

Taylor was nowhere to be seen at Lipa's wedding festivities this May, neither at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London nor at the subsequent three-day fete in Palermo.

Greg James 

Greg scored his invite months after Taylor, who he has interviewed multiple times over the years, told him live on his BBC Radio 1 show that he would be there. 

After Greg joked that he wanted to meet her NFL star beau Travis, Taylor laughed that he'd get the chance at the wedding, telling him he was 'obviously' invited.

Saying he'd like to hang out with the athlete and for him to 'do a wrestling move on me into a pool,' Taylor replied to Greg, 'That's gonna happen as soon as he sees you at our wedding.'

'Whoa - am I coming?' Greg asked, with Taylor confirming, 'Obviously,' adding, 'People don't think that we are actually friends.'

Greg joked on This Morning earlier this year though that despite his public invite, he was yet to receive an actual invitation in the post. 

When asked whether he would be attending, Greg admitted: 'I wish that I could come to you today with news of an invitation, but I've said this on the radio and to my friends who have been like, 'Have you got the invitation yet?' And I've said, not yet.'

 'Or maybe never! And I do think it will be great if I get to go with me and Graham [Norton], and also very funny if I don't get an invitation.'

After skipping his Radio 1 show on Friday, Greg had insisted to listeners he was busy in Sheffield for a live recording of his Bad Chat podcast at the Crossed Wires festival. In fact, he had jumped on a flight across the Atlantic to make it in time for Taylor's evening nuptials. 

Sharing a photo of a slice of pizza the morning after, he joked: 'I am currently experiencing the world's greatest hangover and unable to reply to the hilarious number of messages I have received over the last 24hrs. 

'But just to say: true to her word, of course the invitation arrived and I couldn't tell anyone. And oh my God, what an unbelievably brilliant night. I'm off for a nap.'

Sharing a further glimpse into the occasion, Greg also shared a sweet photo of himself and his wife, Bella Mackie, dressed up for the big day.

Andrew Scott

Taylor is friends with Irish actor Andrew thanks to her ex boyfriend Joe Alwyn.

Andrew and Joe are close friends after co-starring in the 2022 film Catherine Called Birdy, in the same time period that Joe was dating Taylor. 

Along with Paul Mescal the actors formed the 'Tortured Man Club' group chat. The title of Taylor Swift's 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department is largely considered a nod to her ex-boyfriend Joe and the boys' club.

There's no bad blood between Andrew and Taylor since her split from Joe though, with the actor spotted at her Eras Tour shows and enjoying dinner with the singer and her UK-based pals when she is in town. 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge 

Andrew Scott and Taylor also have Phoebe Waller-Bridge in common. Andrew's Fleabag co-star was also at the wedding after building a close friendship with Taylor. 

Taylor has long been a fan of Phoebe's and wrote a letter in support of her when the actress was included in Time's 100 list of the most influential people.

In an essay to accompany her ranking on the list, Taylor wrote about the 'iconic' moment at the 2019 Emmy Awards when Phoebe was pictured reclining in a white gown as she smoked a cigarette while surrounded by Emmys.

Taylor wrote: 'It depicts Phoebe, mid-puff-of-smoke, blissfully relaxing on a sun lounger in a glittery Monique Lhuillier gown, surrounded by Emmys. It was, to paraphrase pretty much everyone who saw it, iconic.'

Praising her writing on spy series Killing Eve, she added: 'Sometimes all the puzzle pieces fall into place at the perfect time.

'A combination of razor-sharp instincts, killer wit and genuine care for the people she works with proved to be a winning hand.'

Phoebe and Taylor also appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live together in 2019 which Phoebe hosted and Taylor was the musical guest.

Ed Sheeran

It was no surprise to see Taylor's close friend Ed and his wife Cherry Seaborn at Friday's wedding.

The two pop stars have been friends for 11 years, with Taylor even '.

Their friendship reportedly began in 2012 after Ed discovered that she had written his Lego House lyrics on her arm during a performance in Australia. 

'I heard his song Lego House in Australia when I was on the Speak Now tour,' Taylor told Rolling Stone in 2017. 'It just cut through everything else.' According to the outlet, their managers then introduced them. 

That same year, the pair collaborated on Everything Has Changed and Ed served as opening act on her Red Tour. 'I lived in Nashville and she lived in Nashville and we used to fly to and from the gigs together and do all sorts of, I don't know,' recalled Ed.

'I literally spent almost every single day with her for about six months, so I think that period of time and I do, you know, I see her when I see her.'

'I probably see her like four times a year and we do what I said — like instead of catching up the whole time, we have a proper sit-down, six-hour catchups.'

The two reunited publicly last August when Ed joined Taylor as a surprise guest during one of her Wembley gigs on the Eras Tour. 

Despite their closeness Taylor revealed that she didn't tell her British 'bestie' about her engagement to Travis, with Ed instead finding out on Instagram.

She admitted she 'forgot to call Ed' to tell him the happy news before she told her 282million Instagram followers.

She said: 'This is one of my absolute favourite people on the planet and then when the news came out I was like, 'Oh my god! We forgot to call Ed!'

Suki Waterhouse 

Model, actress and singer Suki has been a Swiftie for years, and has been spotted on double dates with her beau Robert Pattinson and the star.

The two were first seen together at a Kings of Leon concert in 2016, and almost eight years later, Suki opened for a show on the Eras Tour in London. 

Taylor has said of their friendship:'When we hang out, I often come away wondering how someone can be simultaneously spontaneous and free and also preternaturally wise. She is the wildest person I know who I would also trust to keep any secret.'