Meghan Markle to be baptised this month 'out of respect for the Queen'

Meghan Markle will be baptised as an Anglican by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a service at Kensington Palace later this month, according to the Sunday Times.

Markle, who is set to marry Prince Harry in May, was raised a Protestant, went to a Catholic school and previously married a Jewish man.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce their engagement at Kensington Palace. Reuters

Her father, Thomas, who was Episcopalian when Meghan was born, will travel to the wedding from Mexico, according to the Sunday Times, while her mother, Doria Ragland, a Protestant, will come from California.

The report claims that Markle has requested that Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, performs the ceremony because she has 'formed a close bond with him'.

A source told The Sunday Times: 'She and Harry have been doing wedding prep with [the archbishop].'

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has reportedly formed a bond with Markle Westminster Abbey

Markle attended the Catholic Immaculate Heart high school as a teenager and later married Trevor Engelson, who is Jewish.

While she did not adopt his faith, according to the Daily Mail their wedding in Jamaica in 2011 was conducted with many Jewish traditions, with the couple being lifted on chairs. They divorced two years later.

Markle was not formally required to become an Anglican in order to marry Harry, but it is believed that she wanted to do so out of respect for the Queen, who is the head of the Church of England.

Markle and Prince Harry will be married at Windsor Castle on May 19.

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