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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby ‘has fallen under Harry and Meghan’s spell’, Palace sources say
Justin Welby’s relationship with the Sussexes has deepened through a series of meetings since his first meeting with Meghan in the run-up to the wedding.
The world watched the Archbishop of Canterbury officiate at their wedding in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday May 19, 2018.
The couple later revealed that he had also presided over a previous ceremony where they claimed they had secretly “married”.
Meghan told Oprah Winfrey in her sensational 2021 interview: ‘Three days before our wedding, we got married. Nobody knows, but we called the Archbishop and simply said: ‘This thing, this show is for the world, but we want our union with each other.’
ALL SMILES: Justin Welby (back) at the wedding of Prince Harry (right) and Meghan (left) at St George’s Chapel
Justin Welby’s (pictured) relationship with the Sussexes has deepened through a series of meetings since his first meeting with Meghan in the run-up to the wedding.
“So the vows we’ve framed in our bedroom are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
The archbishop later clarified the claims, saying: “I had several private and pastoral meetings with the duke and duchess before the wedding.
The legal wedding was on Saturday.
In 2019, the archbishop baptized the couple’s first child, Archie, in the private chapel at Windsor Castle.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 3 last year to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
Two years later it was learned that Welby had withdrawn from attending the General Synod of the Church in York to officiate.
He has praised Meghan, saying: “She is a person of deep humanity and deep concern for people, who seeks to carry out her role with every ounce of her being, and I think she is an extraordinary person.”
In 2021 he expressed sympathy for Harry, telling the Financial Times that being in the Royal Family was “life without parole” and that the public expected them to be “superhuman”.
The relationship between Welby and the Sussexes has long been known in the halls of Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace.
“The closeness of the archbishop and the Sussexes has been a topic of conversation for a while,” said a well-placed source.
“Justin clearly had a lot of sympathy for them. [over Megxit] and we were shaking our heads wondering why he felt so sorry for them. It was as if she had completely fallen under his spell.