Harry and Meghan 'tell all' with Oprah: Couple secretly wed three days before actual wedding

Meghan Markle has revealed to Oprah that she and Harry were secretely married three days prior to their lavish Windsor Castle wedding. Photo / Twitter, Oprah Winfrey

Just minutes into the highly anticipated tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey the first bombshell has been dropped.

In what started as a fairly banal statement from Meghan that she was looking forward to "just getting back down to basics," the 39-year-old Duchess suddenly revealed that she and Harry had secretly wed three days before their lavish royal wedding ceremony.

"Three days before our wedding, we got married. No-one knows that – the spectacle was for the world."

Today’s the day.

Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A Primetime Special airs tonight at 8/7c on @CBS. #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/hHFppSFrW8

— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) March 7, 2021

Few details of the secret ceremony are known at this stage, but the televised royal wedding is sure to be picked over anew amid this revelation.

Six hundred guests attended the lavish official ceremony on May 19, 2018. The "official" wedding took place at St George's Chapel, on the grounds of Windsor Castle – the same place where Prince Harry was christened in 1984.

Duchess Meghan revealed to @Oprah that she and Prince Harry got secretly married by @JustinWelby three days before their May 19 Windsor Castle wedding ceremony.#OprahMeghanHarry

— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 8, 2021

The Windsor Castle wedding is estimated to have cost £32 million (approximately $62m). The Daily Mail reported at the time that Meghan's wedding dress and accessories alone had totalled in excess $763,000.

Critics were quick to take to Twitter to voice their displeasure at the revelation, with many protesting against the huge cost of the lavish royal wedding, and others claiming that "we don't do things like that in the UK".

Omg! Harry and Meghan were married 3 days before their actual wedding. So every penny of the 30+million that was shilled out by the taxpayers on their wedding should be returned by Harry and Meghan! Wow!

— LeeAnn Parker (@LeeAnnP59212571) March 8, 2021

Others said they were happy that Harry and Meghan "got to enjoy their day for themselves", alluding to the fact that the large Windsor wedding was more for "the world and the royal family" than it ever was for Harry and Meghan.

• CBS presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry will broadcast on Tuesday, March 9 at 7.30pm on Three.