Prince Harry + Duchess Meghan
Wedding certificate proves: Your garden wedding is invalid
Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan
© Getty Images
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Duchess Meghan revealed that she and Prince Harry had already tied the knot before their big wedding. Now it turns out that this claim is untrue. One official ruled that Meghan was “obviously confused and clearly misinformed”.
On May 19, 2018, the big wedding of Prince Harry, 36, and Duchess Meghan, 39, took place in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The surprise was therefore great when Meghan said in the Oprah interview that she and Prince Harry had already been husband and wife at this point. They were married three days earlier by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in the garden of their house on the grounds of Kensington Palace. According to Meghan, guests or family members were not present.
Wedding certificate confirms marriage on May 19, 2018
Immediately after the Oprah interview, there were many voices suggesting that this garden wedding was not a real wedding. The reason: In order for a marriage to be legally binding, two witnesses must be present at the ceremony. In addition, the ceremony must be performed by a member of the clergy in a church or other licensed location.
This is now also confirmed by the wedding certificate of Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry, which is exclusively available to the British newspaper “The Sun”. The document made available to the press by the General Register Office confirms that the marriage formalities took place on May 19, 2018 at Windsor Castle.
Prince Charles, 72, and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, 64, are registered as witnesses. The official who issued the license for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding says Meghan was “obviously confused and clearly misinformed” about the secret wedding.
“You weren’t married three days before the Archbishop of Canterbury,” Mr. Borton, former chief secretary in the faculty office, told The Sun. “I suspect that they exchanged a few simple vows that they might have written themselves and said that in front of the archbishop, that is fashionable – or, more likely, it was a simple rehearsal.” Friends of Harry and Meghan confirm this view of things to the “Town & Country” magazine.
Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry: No witnesses at the garden wedding
Reverend Robinson, who heads four Suffolk rural churches, was outraged by the marriage fuss. “Do you seriously think there is a chance that you had a legal wedding in a garden without witnesses three days before your royal wedding to the Archbishop of Canterbury?” He told the Daily Mail shortly after the explosive Oprah interview. .
On Twitter, the Reverend added: “You can’t get married twice. So what was the matter three days earlier? […] She clearly believes that something happened to the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before the wedding. So it would be helpful to clarify what it was. “In order to shed light on the darkness, the Archbishop of Canterbury is asked to take a position, as is demanded by many – but a spokesman said that the Archbishop is not concerned with personal or pastoral matters will express.
Special moment, but not a wedding
With the certificate, it is official: Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan were not declared husband and wife on May 16, 2018 in their garden in the backyard of their cottage, but in Windsor – three days later. Why they presented it differently in the interview with Winfrey remains uncertain.
Source used: dailymail.co.uk, thesun.co.uk
Sources used: This article originally appeared on GALA.de.