Posted on 04/09/2005 8:28:47 AM PDT by cynblogger
Apr 9, 9:54 AM (ET)
By CATHERINE McALOON
(AP) Britain's Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his new bride Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,...
WINDSOR, England (AP) - Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles were married Saturday in a modest civil ceremony at the 17th century Guildhall, and the second marriage for each was blessed by the Church of England as the royals knelt before Archbishop of Canterbury in a majestic ceremony in the soaring, gothic St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
The wedding capped a decades-long love affair that lasted through the prince's first marriage to Princess Diana.
The couple emerged from Guildhall arm-in-arm to the cheers of onlookers and a jazz band playing, "Congratulations." They waved to the cheering crowd, but there was no public kiss or embrace.
Parker Bowles now takes on Diana's previous status as Princess of Wales, although she plans to defer to public sentiment by avoiding the title and will instead be known as the Duchess of Cornwall.
When Charles takes the throne, Parker Bowles legally will be queen, but she wishes to be known as Princess Consort - a bow to opinion polls that show 70 percent of the population opposed to Queen Camilla.
After the civil ceremony, the couple drove to Windsor Castle in a Rolls-Royce for the blessing ceremony by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at St. George's Chapel, which was attended by Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II. She and her husband, Prince Philip, did not attend the civil ceremony, saying they wanted to honor Charles' wish to keep the wedding "low key."
Many of the wedding guests, including Charles' sons, William and Harry, were driven to the wedding in a rented bus. Parker Bowles' ex-husband, Andrew, also was among the fewer than 30 guests at the civil ceremony.
The bride wore an oyster silk basket weave coat with a herringbone stitch and a matching chiffon dress. She also wore a matching straw and lace hat with feather details.
Charles, in contrast to the military uniform he wore for his first wedding to Diana, was dressed in formal morning wear.
The hall was lined with jasmine and lily of the valley - known to symbolize the return of happiness.
The couple initially planned to wed at Windsor Castle but changed their plans because under British licensing law, registering the castle as a wedding venue would mean opening it up to commoners' weddings as well.
The civil ceremony was in sharp contrast to the pageantry of Charles' 1981 storybook wedding to the 20-year-old Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Waving Union Jack flags or raising banners honoring Diana, crowds lining the streets of the handsome riverside town of Windsor waited in chilly sunshine for the nuptials, which were postponed so Charles could attend Friday's funeral of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
"It's up to him who he marries," said Barbara Murray, 41, who camped overnight with her two daughters to stake out a vantage point to see the couple. "Whoever he chose wouldn't be the same as Diana."
Nearly eight years after Diana's death, some have bridled at accepting Camilla Parker Bowles as a future queen, seeing her relationship with Charles as the reason his first marriage fell apart.
"She broke up their marriage," said Yvonne Williams, 67, who raised a banner that read: "Long live the Queen, Diana Forever: King Charles, Queen Camilla - Never."
Security was very tight. In addition to sharpshooters on rooftops, plainclothes officers moved around in the crowd, dogs sniffed for bombs, and normally unarmed police carried handguns in the streets around Windsor Castle.
Thames Valley Police, responsible for security outside the castle, had 550 officers on duty and Scotland Yard, which is in charge inside the castle, had dozens more.
On Friday, Prince Charles joined world leaders and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the John Paul's funeral.
Parker Bowles, meanwhile, met Friday with her couturier, milliner and cobbler - adding the finishing touches to her wedding day outfit, which was kept top secret.
In keeping with tradition, Parker Bowles spent Friday night at Clarence House, the London residence of the Prince of Wales, while Prince Charles spent the night at his country mansion in Gloucestershire, with his sons.
Parker Bowles, wearing a blue jacket, smiled and waved Saturday morning as she set out for Windsor, 20 miles west of London.
Inside Windsor Castle's gates, tents were erected for the media, while every vantage point, from private balconies to the roof of a local liquor store, was converted into a temporary broadcast location.
Hotels were fully booked, and souvenir shops were doing a brisk trade in royal wedding mugs and tea towels.
Charles met Camilla Shand more than 30 years ago and discovered they shared a common love of rural life.
Her great-grandmother Alice Keppel had a love affair with King Edward VII, Charles' great-great-grandfather. The young Camilla is said to have brought that up after meeting the prince at a polo match in the early 1970s.
"My great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather's mistress, so how about it?" she is reported to have told the prince.
But he sailed off with the Royal Navy without cementing their relationship. In his absence, she married Andrew Parker Bowles.
In 1981, the prince married Diana, who won the nation's heart but did not hold her husband's. Charles acknowledged years later that he had broken his marriage vows after the marriage deteriorated and despite his and Diana's efforts to save it.
"There were three of us in that marriage," Diana said later - but she admitted affairs of her own.
Many Britons took Diana's view, vilifying Parker Bowles as a royal home-wrecker.
Charles and Diana were divorced in 1996, a year after the Parker Bowles' marriage dissolved.
After Diana's death in 1997, Charles and Parker Bowles cautiously began making their relationship public. Their first public appearance together came in 1999; the first public kiss in 2001. In February, the prince and Parker Bowles announced that they would wed.
The wedding faced a series of obstacles, including the debate over what title Parker Bowles would take.
Speculation later surfaced about whether the wedding would be legal. But the registrar general dismissed a series of objections and the government's chief legal adviser said there were no legal obstacles.
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Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless and Beth Gardiner contributed to this report.
As a reward for hurting the two primaries, Claptrap gets to become king and the mutt gets to become queen. What a joke!
As I was watching that wedding today, and hearing all the men carping about how the Royal Couple were "old and not attractive" or making crude comments about the way Her Grace looked, I realized that if I were to get married at my present age, that is just the way I would look. Personally I think it's wonderful that they have married and will be happy together at last, and I wish you snotty men trapped in mid-life crisis would get over the idea that the only women worthy of happiness are 20 year old big-breasted blondes who suffer from bulimia. Do you wonder why young women are getting cosmetic surgery at the age of 16, and why younger and younger girls are tarting themselves up and being hospitalized for eating disorders? Because of the constant carping of middle-aged men who can only admit to one standard of beauty.
I say God bless the Royal Couple and may they live happily ever after and both reach an age where they can attend all your funerals.
No, William wouldn't be here, but Harry still would, as the Brits are convinced that Harry is the result of Diana's union with James Hewitt (a red-head). It's funny b/c I've been over in Merry Ol' for a while, and nobody believes that Charles is Harry's father. If you see pictures of Captain Hewitt, the similarities are striking, I must say! However, that precious William lucked out by getting most of his Mummy's genes! Now, the result of Camilla and CHarles procreation would have been, ahem, less than pretty...so Thanks, Diana!
Pray for W and Our Troops
"And Diana would still be alive, married to some lower level blue-blood"
Married to an Egyptian playboy.
Nah, she wouldn't have been nearly as attractive to him if she hadn't been princess. He was just thumbing his nose at England.
Hay stalks.
That said, I only wish she would have spent some money on her teeth. If she had fixed the crooked ones in front she would have been quite beautiful. (Fingernails and teeth are real important in my first impressions)
I think the whole issue is rediculous. Just look at how British media turned a simple confession of sins into. Headlines splashed with "Confesions of Adultry" blah blah blah. What a bunch of hypocrats.
It's clear they are still in love with Diana, who could do no wrong in their eyes. In reality she was a joke.
Camila is actualy a very nice person, and as we can see one who has incredible tollerance. She's make a better queen than the prune currently on the cusions.
Agreed. Andwhen the wind blew her hair the black ROOTS showed. You'd think with all that money and power she could have gotten them touched up.
ED Hill has been full of misinformation recently. How many times did she refer to Elizabeth as the "Queen Mother"? She was corrected by her English guest at least 5 times that I heard.
I wish the well,but I'm glad that these two are past the age of having children, let face it the spawn of these two would redefine coyote ugly.
Naaaaaaahhhh!!!!
I don't enjoy the knee-jerk insults toward these two people, but especially toward Camilla's appearance. It's petty. If only beautiful people were deserving of happiness, I suppose a lot of us would deserve misery. These two people are not the first to marry the wrong person...nor the first to have an adulterous relationship...nor the first to marry late in life after earlier marriages ended to death or divorce. They just lived through all this while in the public eye.
Age takes its toll on the handsomest of men and the most beautiful of women. If one is less handsome/beautiful to begin with, then age is even less kind.
I think their smiles today tell a poignant story and I hope they are happy together. Finally.
Amen.
I do not wish that anybody would die, just that the Royal Couple will live to be 110 years old, longer than all those who think it's funny to make crude remarks about the way they look, on their wedding day. I would take the Dutchess over Hanoi Jane any day of the week.
Is that what your mother taught you? To go out in public and point and laugh and jeer at people you don't think are cute enough -- or young enough? You're lucky I am not your mother, that's all.
Talking about overkill on Friday evening the viewing audience should they choose to tune if they access Directv Basic a 2-hour special on "Charles & Camilla". Saturday on TLC 280 "Charles & Camilla: The Road to the Altar", WE 260 "Charles & Camilla's Wedding Day", BBC 264 "The Royal Wedding: Charles & Camilla"
Claptrap Charlie is paying alot to legitimize his whorish union with the mutt for the general public. He sure is going the extra route to ensure when the time comes that the public will accept his whore as queen. The one good thing that I'm thankful for is the ability to quickly turn the channel.
You chased off all the mutt-lovers with that post.
I agree with you, why be happy for 2 people who made innocent family members miserable? For 2 people who didn't honor their marriage vows even though children were involved? People in the public eye who should be held to a higher standard? No one is perfect, everybody makes mistakes but even a moron knows that adultery is wrong and doubly wrong when there are children.
More overkill today. Have to wonder if Claptrap Charlie's people bought out WE (260) & BBC (264) because both channels are playing reruns of yesterday. Good grief! The doofus parading his whore all weekend if too much. Glad I can turn the channel.
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