MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry did NOT officially tie the knot three days before their wedding – instead performing a “private exchange of vows”, it was claimed today.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed to Oprah they had married ‘in our back yard’ on the Wednesday before the wedding which was watched by millions around the world in May 2018.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest news...
And Meghan said the pressure got so intense in the lead up to the ceremony at St George’s Chapel that the couple decided to get married three days before.
In the candid chat, Meghan told Oprah: “Three days before our wedding, we got married.
“No one knows that but we called the Archbishop [of Canterbury] and we just said ‘this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us’.
“The vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our back yard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Harry added: “Just the three of us.”
But the duke and duchess were forced to clarify last night and admit the private vows ceremony was not a lawful wedding.
Five people are needed for a legal ceremony.
Yesterday, sources close to the Sussexes and the Archbishop said the ceremony was not a proper wedding and merely a personal and private exchange of vows.
‘PERSONAL, PRIVATE CEREMONY’
The service was not legally binding — and they were not officially married until May 19, 2018, at St George’s Chapel, watched by 1.9billion people on TV worldwide.
The private service took place in the small garden of Nottingham Cottage, the property in the grounds of Kensington Palace where Harry and Meghan were living at the time.
A source said: “It was a small thing, but something they were keen to do between themselves.
“They exchanged their vows before the Archbishop in a personal, private ceremony, but their official marriage was very much on the day of the royal wedding.”
Town and Country Magazine reported: “Meghan and Harry were not legally married three days before their wedding.
“A source close to them acknowledges this and says Meghan was describing a private exchange of vows in the interview but their legal marriage was on May 19.”
The law states that Church of England weddings must take place in “a certified place of worship” and cannot be conducted outside.
‘MORE PERSONAL’
They must also take place in the presence of witnesses, which Harry and Meghan did not have in their garden for the ceremony.
Diana Saxby, who arranges civil ceremonies at Clivedon House in Berkshire, where Meghan stayed the night before her wedding, said: “What Meghan and Harry had three days before their wedding is best described as a private blessing or celebration.
“They obviously wanted to have a private ceremony with just the two of them. It wouldn’t have been legally binding, but it will have allowed them to write their own vows and make it more personal.
“People usually do it the other way round and have a small legally-binding marriage first at a register office, followed by a big celebration with all their guests.”
She said private blessings are becoming very popular.
They are not legal ceremonies, but intimate wedding-like events that couples can hold “pretty much anywhere”.
Diana added: “Couples can write their own vows and the ceremony can be ‘officiated’ by whoever they want. Sometimes they are religious, sometimes not, and they can be very formal or very relaxed.
“They are popular with foreigners who want a grand fairytale wedding at an English castle or country house.
“Usually, they have a legal wedding first in their home country then come here for the glitzy celebration.
“Other people find they can’t get a registrar on the day they want to have their wedding, so they have a civil ceremony with all their guests and do the ‘legal bit’ later.
“One groom I dealt was getting divorced from his previous wife, but the paperwork hadn’t come through yet, so they had a civil ceremony and then got married officially in a register office later.
“I doubt the Archbishop of Canterbury has officiated at many of these types of ceremonies, but the Royal Family is a special case.”
A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury said he would not be commenting on personal or pastoral matters.
The royal couple did not have to follow the usual protocol of having banns read in church prior to their wedding.
They were married under a special licence signed by Howard Dellar, the Registrar of the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The licence included a lot of wording not usually seen on marriage licences, including the Queen’s consent.
Their marriage certificate was also not made publicly available due to a clause in the Marriage Act which exempts members of the Royal Family from this normal requirement.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex married in front of 600 guests at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018 – with their big day including a carriage procession and blooming flower arch.
It’s estimated that the big day cost £32m – covering everything from the cost of security and catering to Meghan’s stunning dress.
Recounting the wedding, Meghan said she had felt that the star-studded event “wasn’t our day”.
She told Oprah: “I thought about this a lot because it was like having an out of body experience I was very present for.
“And that’s the only way I can describe it because the night before I slept through the night entirely, which in and of itself is a bit of a miracle.
“And then I woke up and started listening to that song Going To The Chapel [The Dixie Cups], and just tried to make it fun and light and remind ourselves that this was our day – but I think we were both really aware, even in advance, that this wasn’t our day.
“This was the day that was planned for the world.”
It has since been claimed aides were left stressed organising the day with the couple’s demands.
The pair were showing Oprah a chicken coop at their 11-bedroom California mansion when they made the revelation.
Meghan said the couple had moved in a bid to “live authentically” and “get back to basics”.
Meghan added she went into the Royal Family “naively” because she did not know anything about them, and claimed she did not do any research Harry.
She added: “I’ve never looked up my husband online. I just didn’t feel a need to because everything that I needed to know, he was sharing with me.
“Everything that we thought I needed to know, he was telling me.”
Most read in UK News
Meghan added that she had not romanticised the job but admitted all she knew about the Royal Family was what she read in fairy tales.
Meghan revealed the Queen was one of the first people she met in the Royal Family after having lunch at the Royal Lodge – practising how to curtsy outside.
She added: “Thank God I didn’t know a lot about the family and hadn’t researched – I’d have been so in my head about it.”
