Meghan and Harry’s backyard wedding ‘didn’t happen,’ claims vicar

A vicar who claims to have inside information says Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s backyard wedding “did not take place.”

The Rev. Mark Edwards claims he discussed the event in a phone call with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office and was told it was not what it appeared to be.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey they were married “in our backyard” on Wednesday before the televised public ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2018.

During the all-in-one interview, Meghan said, “You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. Nobody knows.

“The vows we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Later in the interview, Harry stated that only the couple and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, were present.

The ceremony was said to have taken place in a small Nottingham Cottage garden at Kensington Palace, where the couple were living at the time.

Edwards, a Newcastle vicar, was inundated with requests for private weddings during the lockdown and claims he contacted the archbishop’s office to “get some clarity” on church policy, the Sun reports.

But the vicar told the Sun that a Lambeth Palace staff member told him that “Justin doesn’t do private weddings. Meghan is American, she doesn’t understand.”

Edwards said the person, whose job title was not specified, he spoke to told him: “Justin had a private conversation with the couple in the garden about the wedding, but I can assure you that no wedding took place until the national event was televised. “

According to the Church of England, weddings require at least two witnesses, and the public must have “unrestricted access” to the ceremony for objections to be raised.

If a couple is already married, they cannot legally do so again, unless there is a problem with the first marriage. Experts believe from this that Harry and Meghan’s first wedding would not have been legally binding and probably just an exchange of intent.

The law also states that Church of England weddings must take place in “a certified place of worship” and cannot be held abroad.

The claims of a private wedding also raised questions among church members and the public.

Edwards said it was “in the public interest for the church leader to make things clear.”

He told ChronicleLive: “It puts us priests in a difficult position on what constitutes a Church of England wedding.

“Should there be witnesses and licenses and legality or is it now just an ad hoc arrangement with members of the clergy? Can we now do private weddings without witnesses in our back gardens?

“Saying Justin refusing to comment is not helpful to the rest of the clergy and our own policies and practices.

“I have had people ask me during the lockdown if they could have a private wedding, and I had to explain to them that it would not be a legal wedding and not according to canon law.

“I think we need a clarifying statement, we need to know what our policies and procedures are. It cannot seem like a rule for one and another rule for another.”