Meghan Markle was ‘clearly misinformed’ when she claimed she married Prince Harry in secret three days before their official wedding, the former official who issued the licence has said.

Stephen Borton, the former chief clerk at the Faculty Office, said the duchess is ‘obviously confused’ after she told Oprah Winfrey that she and Harry had been wed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in their ‘backyard.’

Meghan told the US talkshow host that they had called Justin Welby and asked him to marry them in private. But Mr Borton said the ceremony described by Meghan in the interview was ‘not valid’ because there were no witnesses and the couple’s home – Nottingham Cottage – was not an authorised venue.

It was more likely the private ceremony was informal exchange of vows or may have just been a practice for the office service itself, according to Mr Borton.

He told The Sun: ‘They did not marry three days earlier in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury. ‘The Special Licence I helped draw up enabled them to marry at St George’s Chapel in Windsor and what happened there on 19 May 2018 and was seen by millions around the world was the official wedding as recognised by the Church of England and the law.

‘What I suspect they did was exchange some simple vows they had perhaps written themselves, and which is fashionable, and said that in front of the Archbishop or, and more likely, it was a simple rehearsal.’ The newspaper has obtained a certified copy of an entry marriage document for the couple which, dated May 19, 2018. It bore the names of Charles and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland as witnesses.