A Newcastle vicar has slammed Meghan Markle‘s claims that she and Prince Harry had a private wedding in their garden 3 days before their royal wedding.
The Duchess of Sussex had told Oprah Winfrey: “You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that.”
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Later on in the show Harry said it had been just them and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby present. However, Rev Mark Edwards, who contacted the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office, over Meghan Markle’s claims that she and Prince Harry married secretly in their garden says he was told that “no wedding took place”.
Rev Edwards, the vicar at St Matthew’s Church, in Dinnington, and St Cuthbert’s Church, in Brunswick, said he was told by a Lambeth Palace staff member that, “Justin does not do private weddings. Meghan is an American, she does not understand.”
Rev Edwards said the person he spoke to then told him: “Justin had a private conversation with the couple in the garden about the wedding, but I can assure you, no wedding took place until the televised national event.”
Vicars have cast doubt on Meghan’s claims since the interview, as rules on Church of England weddings require at least two witnesses, and the public must have “unrestricted access” to the ceremony so objections can be lodged.
Furthermore, a couple who are already married cannot do so again, unless something was wrong with the first marriage. Experts have said any ceremony that took place is unlikely to have been legally binding.
Rev Tiffer Robinson, a Church of England vicar in Suffolk, wrote on Twitter: “She’s entitled to consider it her marriage if she wants to. Americans are much less concerned with the specifics of marriage law than English clergy.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury has so far said he will not comment on Meghan’s comments as it is a private matter. But Rev Edwards said it was “in the public interest for the leader of the church to put the record straight”.
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