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Netflix star's perfect Christmas - with mayonnaise

Getty Taron Egerton attends the premiere of Netflix's Carry-On at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on December 5, 2024. He is wearing a khaki jacket and black t-shirt. He has a shaved head and is smiling to the left of the camera. Getty
Taron Egerton says his mum's Christmas trifle beats Jamie Oliver's every time - but "don't tell Jamie!"

If you have ever wondered about a Hollywood star's guide to the perfect Welsh Christmas, look no further.

Taron Egerton, 35, is best known for playing Elton John in the biopic Rocketman and his major role in Kingsman spy films, and he is in the new Netflix action thriller Carry-On.

But before finding stardom he grew up on Anglesey and then moved to Aberystwyth in Ceredigion when he was 12.

His ideal Christmas includes drinks at 10am, Welsh singing and cranberry sauce... with mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise.

However, his festive fun does not include the tradition of the Mari Lwyd.

Meaning "grey mare", it is a figure of a horse carried from door to door by wassailing groups - who go from home to home singing Christmas carols - during the festive season in south Wales.

He seemed unaware of the tradition as he held up a horse skull figure and told Netflix during a promotional interview for Carry-On: "I would advise the next time you do a segment on Wales, don't do research from the occult."

But while his Christmas may be Mari Lwyd-less, he said the period would not be complete without singing.

And drinks too, which are poured at 10am on Christmas Day for the Egerton family.

"We really like to fuel those family arguments as much as we can before they happen," he said.

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When it comes to Christmas dinner, Egerton said "the peach" of the meal is pigs in blankets, and he wraps his turkey "head to toe" in lardo, or pork back fat. Or, as he puts it "very, very, very, very high fat content bacon".

"Cranberry sauce for me really needs mayonnaise to be served with it," he said.

"I don't care what you have to say. Mayonnaise belongs at every meal, especially Christmas dinner. It's great - it makes everything better."

Egerton's mum whips up a trifle every Christmas and he once made it with Jamie Oliver live on a festive cooking show.

"Don't tell Jamie! It was nowhere near as good as my mum's but because I was live on camera I had to go 'oh mmm Jamie, that's just like my mother used to make.'

"But it wasn't, it was dry," he smiled.

Egerton starred as Eggsy in two of the Kingsman films, and also portrayed the British ski-jumper Eddie Edwards in Eddie The Eagle.

His latest role in Carry-On sees him playing an airport security guard whose work involves screening passengers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

He is forced to pursue a mysterious villain after being blackmailed into allowing a potentially dangerous package on board a Christmas Eve flight.