Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s marriage certificate contradicts the Duchess of Sussex’s claim that they secretly tied the knot in their backyard days before their lavish public exchange of vows, a report said.
During her bombshell TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle said she and Harry actually hitchhiked three days before their highly publicized 2018 ceremony.
But the document The Sun obtained from the General Registrar’s Office confirms that the wedding took place at Windsor Castle on May 19 of that year.
The news report also reported that the official who drew up the couple’s marriage license rejected Markle’s claim.
‘I’m sorry, but Meghan is clearly confused and clearly misinformed. They were not married three days earlier in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, ”Stephen Borton, former principal clerk at the faculty office, told The Sun.
“What I suspect they did was exchange some simple vows that they might have written themselves, and what’s in vogue, saying it was for the Archbishop – or, and more likely, it was a simple rehearsal,” Borton adds.
Speaking to Oprah, Markle said, “You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. Nobody knows. The vows we took in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury. “
She said she and Harry called the Archbishop, Most Reverend Justin Welby, and asked him to marry them at their home in Nottingham Cottage.
“The three of us,” agreed the prince.
Borton threw cold water on their claim.
They could not have been married on the grounds of Nottingham Cottage as it is not an authorized location and there were not enough witnesses present. You cannot marry just three people. It’s not a valid ceremony, ”he told The Sun.
“Any certificate she has of her vows on the wall is not an official marriage certificate,” he continued. The wedding itself took place at St. George’s Chapel under the terms of the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, recently amended.
“To ensure that they could get married, a special permit was drawn up and Her Majesty the Queen’s wording authorizing the wedding and the official venue was included.”
The witnesses on the document are registered as Prince Charles and Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, according to the report.
The Sun said it paid £ 42 (about $ 58) for the certificate, which lists Harry as ‘bachelor’, his profession as ‘Prince of the United Kingdom’ and Markle as ‘divorced’ and ‘actor’.
A spokesman for the Archbishop said he would not comment on The Sun on personal or pastoral matters.