"Well, la-de-dah!"
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.
Fine, I wish them well, yes she looks like a horse, and now will everybody please shut up!
Should have happened 30 years ago.
You got that straight - think of all the problems they would have avoided.
"Well, la-de-dah!"
And Diana would still be alive, married to some lower level blue-blood, lunching with the ladies, and maybe even managing to keep it down.
Of course, that adorable William wouldn't be here. Shame on me, I could be his mother!
Agreed ... too bad this didn't happen years ago.
And also ... of all the wacky hats on display there, I think Camilla's was actually the prettiest.
Now, I can turn my attention to truly important things, like spreading fertilizer on my lawn.
The hat during the civil ceremony was pretty, but the phesant feathers during the church service was hideous. She looked like she was trying to take flight.
I like both of her hats. She looked very stylish.
I wonder what her role will be now it terms of public events. Will she do speeches like Dianna and have charities of her own she supports? I wonder how the public will receive her at events of that nature It will probably take awhile to get used to.
LOL..I heard it was WHEAT stalks. Edi on Fox even mentioned that on the broadcast. I was ROFL.
The whole "marriage" is a farce.
I wonder how long Camilla will last before she, umm, exits the whole soap opera the Royal Family is.
Since you are so uninterested in the wedding, one wonders why you aren't spreading fertilizer instead of dropping in on this thread.
No mention of the farrier, though, he must feel left out.
I know one thing for certain. She will NOT be the people's Princess. I wonder how long it will take before we see the Queen, Charlie, William, Harry, and oh yes, Camilla, out riding their horses waving to the media.
The royal thing just gets weirderer and weirderer.............
Claptrap Charlie broke up the mutt's marriage. The mutt broke up Claptrap's marriage. With the two primaries out of the way, Claptrap & mutt get to live happily ever after. Ugh!
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