Because the wedding ceremony televised from Buckingham Palace in 2018 was performed as a valid marriage ceremony with spiritual and legal ramifications, a private wedding with legal validity beforehand would mean that the Archbishop of Canterbury was performing an inappropriate and spiritually offensive act.<\/p>\n\n\n
Additionally, the Church of England requires the presence of at least two witnesses at a marriage ceremony for it to be considered valid. <\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cTwo or more witnesses must be present at the marriage. There is no restriction on the number of witnesses, nor is there an age limit but they must be able to understand what is taking place and testify if necessary as to what they have seen and heard,\u201d the same handbook reads.<\/p>\n\n\n
If what the Duke and Duchess claimed is true, it would mean that the private marriage overseen by the most senior clergyman of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was directly violating multiple aspects of canon law.<\/p>\n\n\n
Reverend David Green, Vicar of St. Mary\u2019s in West Malling, weighed in via Twitter on the couple\u2019s claims of a secret second marriage after watching the interview.<\/p>\n\n\n
“I\u2019ve no idea what they mean. Obviously lacking as a parish priest,” Green tweeted<\/a> in a now-unavailable post, according to multiple<\/a> media<\/a> reports<\/a>. “You can\u2019t get married twice. So what was the thing three days before? And if it was a marriage, what on earth are we doing \u2018playing\u2019 at prayer\/holy matrimony for cameras.”<\/p>\n\n\n “She clearly thinks something happened with [the Archbishop of Canterbury] 3 days prior,\u201d Green continued. \u201cSo it would be helpful to clarify what it was.”<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cPlus this is something she claimed that can be verified by separate testimony (i.e. Lambeth). If it’s BS, that helps assess the rest of the interview too. I’d say we are rehearsing night before. No, it’s not legal to have your own vows. What else is there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Green concluded by stating the Archbishop needed to clarify the matter and explain the reality of the couple\u2019s claims about marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n The Archbishop has refused to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n The House of Windsor has deep and inseparable ties to the Church of England, which holds the monarch of the nation as the \u201cSupreme Governor\u201d of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n In the Church\u2019s historic Thirty-Nine Articles it states, \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Majesty hath the chief power in this Realm of England, and other her Dominions, unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm, whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil, in all causes doth appertain, and is not, nor ought to be, subject to any foreign Jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Because of this relationship to the Church of England, obedience to the canon law of the Church is a major expectation of the royal family. Failure to abide by canon law and desire to break the traditions of the Church has caused major controversy for monarchs and royals in the past, including Edward VIII, who was forced to relinquish the throne in order to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.<\/p>\n\n\n In fact, Markle was already walking a razor-thin edge marrying Prince Harry before the ceremony, or the two alleged ceremonies, ever took place.<\/p>\n\n\n The modern Church of England heavily discourages divorce and puts a great deal of consideration into the remarriage of a believer whose former spouse is still alive.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cThe Church of England teaches that marriage is for life,\u201d according to<\/a> the Church\u2019s form for remarriage. \u201cIt also recognizes that some marriages sadly do fail and, if this should happen, it seeks to be available for all involved. The Church accepts that, in exceptional circumstances, a divorced person may marry again in church during the lifetime of a former spouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Markle was formerly a member of a separate sect of Protestantism, though she attended Catholic schools as a child. Before her marriage, Markle was baptized into the Church of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury, according to<\/a> the Telegraph. <\/p>\n\n\n Behind closed doors, negotiations allowed for Markle to wed Prince Harry, presumably meeting the qualifications to be an \u201cexceptional case\u201d that the Church of England finds suitable to remarriage.<\/p>\n\n\n The fallout from the interview with Oprah was not necessarily in the Duke and Duchess\u2019s favor in terms of popularity in their own country.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"Prince_Harry_and_Meghan\u2019s_carriage_procession_through_streets_of_Windsor_05.jpg\"\/](\"https:\/\/images.squarespace-cdn.com\/content\/v1\/586d154f03596e5605562ea7\/1615268589897-83K2CJOLWQ7ATW4C3KG8\/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kE1hg0NvWWSAZG7n-32HWzV7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1Uay9CLl8b-qiNGL7nFRfu9rjCyvAafmvU96pdI2g__aE3HQ7Y2WlVdMid7sjic-hZA\/Prince_Harry_and_Meghan%E2%80%99s_carriage_procession_through_streets_of_Windsor_05.jpg?format=750w\")
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