The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were married on May 19, 2018, in front of thousands of viewers worldwide.
However, they recently clarified that they had a second private wedding that was not publicly known.
Prince Harry and Meghan will mark two milestones this week: their official sixth wedding anniversary and six years since they exchanged vows in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury in a “magical” garden ceremony.
In his book “Spare,” released in January 2023, Harry revealed the moment they exchanged vows at their former home Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where Harry had proposed in 2017.
Harry reminisced about their “unofficial” celebration, witnessed only by their pet dogs, while he was at the altar during their legal wedding ceremony days later.
“The archbishop reached the official part, spoke the few words that made us The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, titles bestowed by Granny, and he joined us until death parted us, though he’d already done similar days earlier, in our garden, a small ceremony, just the two of us, Guy and Pula the only witnesses. Unofficial, non-binding, except in our souls,” he wrote.
They had first commented on their secret wedding during their interview with Oprah Winfrey. “You know, three days before our wedding, we got married,” said Meghan. “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,” she added before Harry jokingly sang: “Just the three of us” in a nod to Bill Withers’s song.
Meghan explained that while the main event was a “spectacle” for everyone to witness, the couple desired their “union” to be a private affair between the two of them.
As there were not the required minimum of two witnesses, and it did not take place in a licensed venue, it was likely more of a blessing.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, later confirmed that the legal ceremony took place on May 19th.
“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 offence if I had signed it knowing it was false,” Welby said according to CNN.
Maintaining the happy couple’s privacy, he coyly added: “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.”
