Meghan Markle in a white dress holding hands with Prince Harry

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex got married on 19 May 2018 in front of thousands of viewers worldwide, but they had to set the record straight after admitting they had a second private wedding “no one knows” about.

Prince Harry and Meghan will celebrate 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.

The Sussexes’ private ceremony

A photo of Kensington Palace against a blue sky© Gareth Cattermole
Harry and Meghan claimed they had an intimate ceremony at their home at Kensington Palace days before their big royal wedding

In his book Spare, which was released in January 2023, Harry opened up about the moment they exchanged vows at their former home Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, which was where Harry proposed in 2017.

Harry recalled their “unofficial” celebration witnessed only by their pet dogs while he was at the altar during his 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.

Meghan Markle sat with Oprah Winfrey

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 said that while the main event was a “spectacle” for everyone to behold, the couple wanted their “union” to remain between the two of them. Since there were not the minimum two witnesses and it did not take place in a licensed venue, it was likely more of a blessing.

Meghan Markle wears Clare Waight Keller to marry Prince Harry in 2018© WPA Pool
The couple got married at St George’s Chapel in 2018

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, later confirmed that the legal ceremony was on 19 May. “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.”