The Archbishop of Canterbury has refused to comment on claims he married Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in a private ceremony days before their televised wedding.

Details of the intimate service were revealed by the couple last night in a bombshell interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

The Duchess of Sussex says they enlisted the help of Archbishop Justin Welby who, they say, agreed to conduct the "ceremony" in the garden of their then home in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

Meghan told Oprah that they felt their official wedding at Windsor Castle would be a public spectacle but not "our day" and so they asked the Archbishop for his help.

"We just said, ‘look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us'.

"Three days before our wedding, we got married."

But their revelation that it was "just the three of us" without any witnesses has raised questions about whether it was a legal marriage under Church of England rules.

When asked for clarification, a spokesman from the Archbishop's office would only say: "The Archbishop does not comment on personal or pastoral matters, so we aren’t commenting."

The Church of England says a marriage must be solemnised by a member of the clergy in a church, or in a place specified in a special licence in the presence of two witnesses.

The vicar of of All Saints and St Peter's Churches in Whitstable, the Rev Simon Tillotson, who has conducted hundred of weddings, confirmed it was a legal requirement to have two witnesses, the signing of registers and a licensed venue for a marriage to be legal.

"It sounds to me like it was more of a rehearsal of the exchanging of vows, which you sometimes do," he added.

Reverend David Green, Vicar of St Mary’s, West Malling and the Rector of St Michael’s, Offham, told a national newspaper it was impossible to have had two weddings, adding: "I think the Archbishop needs to clarify what did or did not happen three days before."

A source 'close to the Sussexes' told the BBC that the wedding Meghan referred to in the "backyard" three days before their public nuptials was a "private exchange of vows".

The couple's formal ceremony took place in front of 600 especially invited guests, including Oprah, in St George's Chapel on May 19, 2018 and was watched on television by millions.

Broadcast on CBS last night in America, the full interview between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and Oprah is due to be shown on ITV at 9pm this evening.

In it, Meghan alleges ill treatment by Royal aides and suffering racism, which together drove her and Prince Harry to flee to the US.

Watch KMTV's Kent Tonight programme to find out what shoppers think of the Oprah interview

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