MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry today admitted they did NOT marry three days before their Windsor wedding.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed to Oprah they had tied the knot “in our backyard” 72 hours before the lavish public wedding on May 19, 2018.
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But the Sun yesterday revealed exclusively the formalities DID take place on May 19, 2018, at Windsor Castle.
And a spokesperson for the couple admitted today they had “privately exchanged personal vows a few days before their official/legal wedding on May 19.”
Meghan, 39, had stunned the world by telling US talk show queen Oprah: “You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that.
“The vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
She said she and Harry phoned the Archbishop, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, and asked him to marry them in private at Nottingham Cottage — their home in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Harry, 36, chimed in: “Just the three of us.”
But their wedding certificate proved the claim was incorrect.
Stephen Borton, former chief clerk at the Faculty Office, told HOAR: “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.
“The Special Licence 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 recognised by the Church of England and the law.”
In order for them to be married a Special Licence was drawn up and the wording from Her Majesty the Queen authorising the wedding and the official venue was recorded.
A copy of the official wedding certificate confirms the actual ceremony did take place on May 19, 2018, at Windsor.
The witnesses are recorded as Prince Charles and Meghan’s mum Doria Ragland.
It states the Sussexes were married according to the “rites and ceremonies of the Established Church” by Special Licence by “Justin Cantuar” .
This is an abbreviation of the Latin Cantuariensis, meaning Canterbury, and is the formal way the Archbishop signs himself on official documents.
It lists Harry as “single” and his occupation as a “Prince of the United Kingdom” and Meghan as “divorced” and an “actor”‘. Her dad Thomas Markle is described as a “lighting director” and Charles as a “Prince of the United Kingdom”.
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 wedding cost £32m – covering everything from the cost of security and catering to Meghan’s stunning dress.
A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury said he would not be commenting on personal or pastoral matters.
