‘RACIST’ SLUR
EXPERTS SCOTCH CLAIMS THAT COUPLE TIED THE KNOT IN SECRET BEFORE £30M PUBLIC EVENT
LAWYERS have dismissed Harry and Meghan’s claim they became man and wife three days before the official £30million ceremony broadcast to the world.
The Duchess of Sussex revealed that the Archbishop of Canterbury presided over a private ‘union’ in the back garden of their then-home at Kensington Palace.
‘You know, three days before our wedding, we got married,’ she told CBS.
‘No one knows that. We called the archbishop and we just said, “Look, this thing, this spectacle, is for the world, but we want our union between us.”’
Harry broke into song as Meghan made the astonishing claim during the broadcast interview, singing: ‘Just the three of us, just the three of us.’
But lawyers said the ceremony would have no legal status because there were no witnesses and it took place outside.
‘If the marriage were conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, it would have been a religious marriage and so would have had to take place in a church, register office or another approved premises,’ said Kevin Skinner, off leading family law firm Goodman Ray.
‘The marriage would d have then to be e entered in the marriage register and d signed by both parties, the archbishop and two witnesses.
‘It would need to have been registered with the local authority within which they were married, and they would need to give notice of their intention to marry, which is 28 days.’
A spokesman for theh archbishop,hbih the h Most Rev Justin Welby, said he did not comment on personal or pastoral matters, but sources within Lambeth Palace distanced him from the claim.
‘A marriage must be solemnised by a member of the clergy in a church, or in a place specified in a special licence – eg a cathedral, a chapel, a hospital, in the presence of two witnesses,’ they added.
As royals, the couple were not required to publish their marriage certificate and it has never been made public.
The Queen publishedli hers on her weddingw to Prince PhilipPh in 1947 and the SSussexes’’ bbabyb AArchie’shi birth certifcate is also a public document.
Meghan said it was photos of the Kensington Palace ceremony that they have hung up and that the official wedding in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle ‘felt like having an out-of-body experience’.
‘I think we were both really aware, even in advance, that this wasn’t our day,’ the duchess added. ‘ This was the day that was planned for the world.’