Meghan and Harry clarify comments about tying the knot 3 days before ceremony
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared several explosive revelations during their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month — and among the bombshells, the couple said they actually "got married" three days before their lavish 2018 wedding that was televised around the world.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess clarified to TODAY that the couple "privately exchanged personal vows a few days before their official/legal wedding on May 19."
During the pair's highly-publicized interview, the former Meghan Markle surprised Winfrey when she revealed that she and Prince Harry exchanged vows ahead of their wedding.
"You know, three days before our wedding, we got married," Meghan, 39, told Winfrey. "No one knows that."
"We called the archbishop and just said, look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us, so the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the archbishop of Canterbury," she said.
"Just the three of us," added Harry, 36.
The clarification from Harry and Meghan's team comes after the "backyard" wedding claim was hotly contested by British media, which pointed out there must be two or more witnesses for a wedding to take place in the U.K.
Perhaps the most shocking revelations shared by the couple, who are currently expecting their second child, detailed how racism has impacted their relationship with both the royal family and the British media.
Meghan, whose mother is Black and whose father is white, told Winfrey that there were "concerns and conversations" among the royal family ahead of her son Archie's birth about "how dark his skin might be."
When Winfrey asked if the issue was that he'd be "too brown and that would be a problem," Meghan explained, "I wasn't able to follow up with why, but if that's the assumption you're making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one."
Winfrey followed up with Harry by asking if a family member had ever mentioned concerns to him about Archie's race.
"That conversation I am never going to share, but at the time it was awkward and I was a bit shocked," he replied. "That was right at the beginning... what will the kids look like?"
On Monday, a royal source told NBC News that the royal family is considering hiring someone to spearhead diversity and inclusion efforts in the wake of Harry and Meghan's allegations of racism.
"Diversity is an issue which has been taken very seriously across the Royal Households," the source said. "We have the policies, the procedures and programmes in place, but we haven’t seen the progress we would like in terms of representation and more needs to be done, we can always improve. The work to do this has been underway for some time now and comes with the full support of the family.
"Lots of measures are being considered. Certainly the idea of someone to spearhead this work and look at diversity / inclusion across the three households is something that has to be considered. It is too early however for any firm plans to be announced. We are listening and learning, to get this right."
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