Welby laughs off ‘Elvis’ wedding of Harry and Meghan

THE ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury has laughed off a national newspaper’s April Fool story that he secretly married the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dressed as Elvis.

Justin Welby, inset, was asked about his thoughts on Meghan’s claim that he performed a “backyard” ceremony before the televised Royal nuptials during an interview on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show.

He said: “There was an element [of] ‘ah-oh’ but the Duchess later clarified the issue.”

Vine asked if the senior cleric had seen The Sun newspaper’s story, which had mocked up an image of the secret “wedding” with the Sussexes standing in front of the Archbishop, who was dressed in an Elvis outfit, complete with guitar and slickedback dark hair.

Mr Welby replied: “Yes. You have noticed the date haven’t you, Jeremy?”

He chuckled as he added: “I did hear that and you can now, having seen that, you can understand why I have decided absolutely not to comment on what happened in that private and pastoral meeting.”

The Archbishop quipped: “Apart from anything else, the wig supplier would want their hair back.” During her explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast last month, Meghan said she and Harry had a secret marriage ceremony with the Archbishop.

The Duchess said nobody knew that the couple shared personal vows for “just the two of us” ahead of their eagerly anticipated wedding day in Windsor on May 19 2018.

It was thought it could not have been a legal ceremony as it lacked witnesses and a registered venue and was instead likely to have been an informal exchange of vows.

Archbishop Welby added: “Well, I can promise you... the wedding was on the Saturday. I signed a wedding certificate.

“And if I sign a false wedding certificate that is perjury and I will be going down for a little while.”

Vine asked the senior cleric if he had said “ah-oh” to himself after he heard Meghan’s wedding claims.

He replied: “There was an element (of ) ‘ah-oh’, yes there was a bit of ‘ah-oh’, but she clarified that a few days later and, you know, it didn’t matter at all.

“But the wedding was on the Saturday and it was beautiful. It was a fantastic wedding.”