Will Meghan Markle's Divorce Stop Her From Being Married in the Church of England?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially engaged, but would they encounter the same problems their predecessors had in the past?
While it may be a joyous time for the folks who had been rooting for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, certain questions had been raised regarding their wedding particularly if they could get married in the Church of England since Meghan Markle had once been married to a different man.
Meghan Markle, 36, had been married to director Trevor Engelson, but their marriage ultimately ended in divorce back in 2013. With Markle already having been divorced, this may prove to be a slight obstacle if they want to get married in the Church of England where divorce has been frowned upon for centuries. In fact, members of the British royal family had been forbidden to marry someone who has been divorced.
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While these views had been prevalent for centuries, times have now changed and divorce seemed a little too common nowadays when it comes to the royal family. For example, Queen Elizabeth may have just recently celebrated her 70th wedding anniversary with the Duke of Edinburgh, but it was divorce that had put her on her throne.
It should be remembered that back during the early parts of the 20th century, Queen Elizabeth's uncle, Edward VII, became the British monarch. However, he soon fell in love with an American woman, Wallis Simpson, who had been divorced twice. Because British laws had prohibited the royal family from marrying a divorcee, Edward VII abdicated from the throne to marry Simpson, which then placed Queen Elizabeth's father, George VI, on the throne.
Prince Harry's engagement to Markle is highly similar to that of Edward VII but then again, times and views have changed much since that time and even the Church of England had once acknowledged back in 2002 "that some marriages regrettably do fail."
The royal family has had quite a history with divorce, and even Prince Harry's father, Prince Charles, had married a divorced woman, Camilla Parker-Bowles, after divorcing his wife, Princess Diana.
Furthermore, a source close to the Archbishop of the Canterbury says that there won't be much of a problem with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle getting married in the Church of England.
"Following the guidelines of the Church of England, the Archbishop wouldn't have any problem with officiating with their wedding if it got to that point," the source said.
