Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has officially denied that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were married prior to their legal televised wedding after the Duchess of Sussex claimed she and her husband exchanged vows in private three days before the ceremony in a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month. During the sit-down chat, Markle told Winfrey, “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.”
Welby, however, gave an interesting answer while confirming the couple’s public vows on May 19, 2018, were the official ones. “The legal wedding was on the Saturday. I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a serious criminal offense if I had signed it knowing it was false,” Welby said in comments first reported by Italian newspaper La Repubblica and confirmed by CNN. “So, you can make what you like of that. But the legal wedding was on the Saturday, but I won’t say what happened at any earlier meetings.”
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In January 2020, Prince Harry and Markle announced they were stepping back from the royal family, a decision they discussed with Winfrey in their first in-depth interview since the decision that rocked the British monarchy, alleging racism the duchess experienced within the family. While the couple declined to name the member of the family who made the inflammatory remark, they did share with Winfrey that there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when [son Archie] was born.” Markle also described feeling suicidal during her time in the royal family due to the isolation and treatment she received.
Buckingham Palace released a statement amid the backlash from the public following the interview: “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
If you or someone you know are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
