Archbishop Of Canterbury Sets The Record Straight After Meghan Markle & Prince Harry's Wedding Comments Caused Controversy
Mar. 31 2021, Updated 12:31 p.m. ET
The truth is finally coming out! After Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey she got hitched to Prince Harry a few days before her May 19, 2018, wedding, the Archbishop of Canterbury has now confirmed he did not marry the pair before their televised nuptials.
“If any of you ever talk to a priest, you expect them to keep that talk confidential. It doesn't matter who I'm talking to,” The Archbishop, Justin Welby, told La Repubblica.
“I had a number of private and pastoral meetings with the duke and duchess before the wedding. The legal wedding was on the Saturday. I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a serious criminal offense if I signed it knowing it was false. So you can make what you like about it. But the legal wedding was on the Saturday. But I won't say what happened at any other meetings.”
“He added, "So you can make what you like about it. But the legal wedding was on the Saturday."
While chatting with Winfrey, Meghan shared: “I was thinking about it, you know our wedding — three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that. We called the Archbishop and we just said, look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world. But we want our union between us, so the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
After Meghan's comments went viral, a spokesperson for the pair cleared the air.
"The couple exchanged personal vows a few days before their official/legal wedding on May 19," they told The Daily Beast.
The Sun even published their marriage certificate, which listed the date as May 19.
Stephen Borton, the former chief clerk at the Faculty Office who crafted the marriage license, also weighed in on the situation.
"I’m sorry, but Meghan is obviously confused and clearly misinformed," he stated. "They did not marry three days earlier in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury."
"The Special License I helped draw up enabled them to marry at St George’s Chapel in Windsor and what happened there on 19 May 2018 and was seen by millions around the world was the official wedding as recognized by the Church of England and the law," Borton continued.
"They couldn’t have got married in the grounds of Nottingham Cottage as it is not an authorized venue and there were not enough witnesses present. You cannot be married with just three people," he explained. "It’s not a valid ceremony."
