Meghan Markle and Prince Harry weren’t actually married three days before their wedding

Meghan Markle’s surprising revelation to Oprah Winfrey that she and Prince Harry were secretly married three days before their extravagant royal wedding is contradicted by the couple’s legal marriage certificate, published by a British tabloid on Monday.

A representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex later confirmed to the Daily Beast and to NBC’s “Today” that there was in fact no legal early marriage, but that “the couple took personal vows a few days before their official / legal wedding on May 19. exchanged. “three years ago.

Markle told Winfrey in an interview broadcast on March 7 that she and her prince had tied the knot in the backyard of their home with the Archbishop of Canterbury who apparently presided at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle three days before their wedding.

“You know, we got married three days before our wedding. Nobody knows, ”said Markle. ‘We called the Archbishop and said,’ Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world. But we want our union between us. So the vows we took in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury. “

Harry quipped, “The three of us,” referring to the Archbishop, the Reverend Justin Welby.

Their backyard was in Nottingham Cottage at the time – their home then in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

But a copy of the couple’s marriage certificate, obtained by The Sun, reveals that they were legally married on May 19, the day of their public wedding in Windsor.

The discrepancy is significant as British critics are bent on undermining the Sussexes’ interview, particularly the disturbing revelation that someone in the royal family expressed “ concern ” about how dark their baby’s skin would be.

Former TV host Piers Morgan, a frequent critic of Markle, immediately jumped on the marriage issue on Monday and asked in a tweet, “Should we still believe her?”

Journalists had previously cited sources saying that Markle was talking about private vows and not legal marriage, but that was far from clear in the interview.

The British press was immediately skeptical of the marriage’s disclosure after the interview, as official marriages require two witnesses, more than ‘just the two of us’.

Officials questioned by British reporters initially walked on their toes around the issue. An official said Markle was “confused”. Another source said the Archbishop of Canterbury “doesn’t do private weddings,” adding, “Meghan is an American; she doesn’t understand.”

But after The Sun obtained the marriage certificate, former head clerk Stephen Borton told the newspaper: “I’m sorry, but Meghan is clearly confused and clearly misinformed. They had not been married three days earlier in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. “

The Special License I helped draft enabled them to get married at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor and what happened there on May 19, 2018, and [what] was seen by millions around the world it was the official wedding as recognized by the Church of England and the law, ”he added.

Borton said he suspected the couple had exchanged some “simple vows” in front of the Archbishop – or “more likely it was a simple rehearsal.” He said Nottingham Cottage is “not an authorized venue” for a royal wedding, and besides, they didn’t have enough witnesses.