Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s marriage certificate contradicts the Duchess of Sussex’s claim that they secretly tied the knot in their yard a few days before their generous public swearing-in, according to a report.
During her television interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle said she and Harry got engaged three days before their highly publicized 2018 ceremony.
But the Sun document obtained from the registrar general’s office confirms that the wedding took place on May 19 that year at Windsor Castle.
The press also reported that the official who licensed the couple’s wedding rejected Markle’s request.
“I’m sorry, but Meghan is obviously confused and clearly misinformed. They did not marry three days earlier in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury, “Stephen Borton, a former chief clerk at the faculty office, told The Sun.
“What I suspect they did was exchange some simple vows that they probably wrote themselves and that are fashionable and said that in front of the Archbishop – or, more likely, it was a simple rehearsal,” Borton added. .
During the meeting with Oprah, Markle said, “You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. Nobody knows that. The oaths we took in our room are just the two of us in the backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury. ”
She said she and Harry called the Archbishop, His Holiness Justin Welby, and asked him to marry them privately at their home in Nottingham Cottage.
“Only the three of us,” the prince said.
Borton threw cold water at their request.
“They could not have married in the grounds of the Nottingham house, because it is not an authorized place and there were not enough witnesses present. You can’t be married to just three people. It’s not a valid ceremony, “he told The Sun.
“Any certificate he can have on the wall oath is not an official wedding certificate,” he continued. “The wedding itself took place at St. George’s Chapel under the conditions provided by the Royal Law of Marriages of 1772, which were recently amended.
“In order for them to marry, a special license was drawn up and the wording was registered from Her Majesty the Queen authorizing the wedding and the official place.”
Witnesses in the document are recorded as the mother of Prince Charles and Markle, Doria Ragland, according to the report.
The Sun said it paid £ 42 (about $ 58) for the certificate, which listed Harry as “alone”, his occupation as “prince of the United Kingdom” and Markle “divorced” and “actor”. ”.
A spokesman for the archbishop said he would not comment on The Sun on personal or pastoral issues.