Posted on 02/15/2005 2:17:39 AM PST by NZerFromHK
The marriage of Charles and Camilla will usher in a new and lavish royal salon. Will it strengthen the House of Windsor or topple it? Nicholas Hellen, Christopher Morgan and Richard Woods report Revenge is a dish best eaten in the banqueting room of Buckingham Palace, which is just what the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles will do once they marry in eight weeks’ time.
For years she has been his lover and closest confidante but, thanks to Britain’s quaint traditions and aristocratic snobbery, she has never been accorded public recognition of her status. The paradox came to a head in November at the society wedding of Edward van Cutsem and Lady Tamara Grosvenor, both scions of families long intimate with the royals.
On such occasions, etiquette and hierarchy rule. At the last minute the seating in the church was changed to downgrade Camilla, the divorced adulterous mistress. She was moved from a place behind the Queen to the back of the church on the other side of the aisle. Prince Charles was so enraged that he withdrew from the wedding.
On such things as a seating plan do affairs of state turn. Even Lord St John of Fawsley, who turns every royal disaster into a triumph, admitted that on this occasion something snapped: "Prince Charles was very upset by the protocol business. That may have had some effect on the announcement," he said.
The spat forced Charles and his parents to confront the prospect of his succeeding to the throne without Parker Bowles’s role being properly resolved. Her uncertain station would cause chaos. Where would she sit on state occasions: by the king’s side or in the corner by the door to the kitchens? So on April 8 the couple will marry, propelling Parker Bowles to the title of HRH the Duchess of Cornwall. When Charles becomes king, she will become Princess Consort. Not bad for the divorced daughter of a wine merchant.
For all those aristocrats who have previously looked down on her as upper middle class, the tables will be turned. Within the royal family Parker Bowles will become the most senior female figure after the Queen. Landowners and aristocrats such as the van Cutsems and Grosvenors — well, they are nice people but not quite in the same league.
Commenting on the wedding, one member of an aristocratic family said: "It’s a black day for the monarchy."
"She wasn’t even on the bottom rung of the ladder and now she has ascended to the top in a day," said a member of another of Britain’s oldest families. "I do think, however, she is going to suffer from being considered as mutton dressed a lamb."
Perhaps so, but the marriage will sweep aides and advisers, friends and family up with Parker Bowles, dramatically solidifying the court that has been quietly forming around the lovers for years.
These winners could assume great influence under the future King Charles III. They are, claim supporters of the couple, more cosmopolitan than commonly thought. Forget the popular perception of Charles surrounded by new age gurus and Parker Bowles knee-deep in horse manure.
"They have got masses of friends. They give the most lovely parties and are brilliant hosts. It could be the most glittering court," said Jilly Cooper, the writer and a friend of Parker Bowles.
The Queen and Prince Philip, who tend to entertain either formally or within a circle of close friends, have never sought to create a buzz around the palace. "Buckingham Palace is the dead heart of the capital," said Andrew Morton, biographer of Diana, Princess of Wales. "The fact that it is in pitch darkness at night symbolises the way it has never been at the heart of arts and entertainment."
Under the new court led by the extravagant Charles and fun-loving Parker Bowles, that could change. The inner circle will comprise the friends who gave house room to the couple in the 1990s to conduct their adulterous affair. And Charles clearly intends to have fun.
AN indication of the future king’s style surfaced at the general assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2000. Charles was standing in for the Queen as lord high commissioner, effectively acting as monarch. On such occasions the Queen customarily gives dinner parties for between six and 12 people. Not Charles.
He hired jugglers and fire eaters to greet guests as they arrived for a dinner and invited up to 200 people at a time. "It was entertainment on a lavish scale and quite beyond anything we had ever seen," said one former moderator of the Church of Scotland.
The next year the prince and Parker Bowles hosted another event which reveals how their court might develop. A two-day trip was organised by the Prince of Wales Foundation, based in Washington, which included dinners at Buckingham Palace and Highgrove.
At the palace dinner, held in the picture gallery, the prince was seated at the centre of the long table and opposite him was Camilla. To the prince’s right was Lily Safra, widow of a billionaire banker, and around the table were a Rockefeller, investment wizards from Wall Street, a beautiful young heiress from Texas, Lady Mary Fairfax, widow of an Australian media tycoon, a Turkish telecommunications billionaire and Sir Elton John.
The occasion was to thank benefactors of the foundation, but it also reflected the growing confidence of Charles, supported by Parker Bowles, in pursuing his own agenda.
At times their efforts to project royal prestige and glamour have gone too far. On one occasion last year Charles was due to visit Gateshead. An aide rang the mayor’s office offering advice on etiquette, such as when to bow and curtsy. An official made it clear Gateshead was Labour country and that they did not curtsy there.
On another occasion Michael Fawcett, the prince’s former valet whose influence is again in the ascendant, rummaged through the cellars of Buckingham Palace for candelabras to take to Highgrove to decorate the tables for a dinner. "Some of them held 20 candles each. They were so large they overwhelmed the tables," said one guest.
The couple appeared to be good judges of the political weather when, after the new Labour landslide of 1997, they invited guests such as Peter Mandelson and Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, to a spring weekend of culture at Sandringham.
"These house parties were a terrific success but the extravagance was indefensible," said an aide. "We made him cut back to holding them once every two years. He was dreadfully cross."
This was the court in private. In public the "Camilla dilemma" remained. Although she made steps towards being seen by his side, they were tentative. Recently she made her way onto his website, appeared in his accounts and started to go to church with him regularly.
One friend said there was a change in their relationship in the past two years. "For a long time they didn’t spend much time together. It was unclear whether it was a real relationship that would survive living together day to day. During last summer they took stock."
The van Cutsem debacle was a reminder of the constraints. "It was the final straw," said one courtier. "If you have friends who insist on points of protocol, then you have to be married. I think William and Harry may have said something, saying how ridiculous it had all become."
The following month Charles began to discuss with his aides the implications of marrying Parker Bowles and how the constitutional and religious problems could be resolved. Earlier this year he broached the matter with the Queen and 10 days ago Downing Street was alerted.
With the wedding only eight weeks away, the impression has been given that this will be a low-key affair. The reality is likely to be different. The marriage will be a civil ceremony in Windsor Castle with the Queen as the host and it will be followed by a service of prayer and dedication in St George’s Chapel, the resting place of monarchs.
It will inevitably be a showcase for the couple and in the months afterwards two events will take place that could set the tone for how they will approach engagements as a married couple.
The Prince of Wales Foundation will host another two-day visit for benefactors and guests. These members of the upper reaches of American society will later entertain Charles and Camilla in their lavish London homes.
In these circles the wedding announcement has gone down well. The visit will involve about 40 couples. "In previous years we have had a polo match and either two lunches or dinners in London, or one each in London and Highgrove," said Robert Higdon, director of the foundation. "Mrs Parker Bowles is a very confident host and very outgoing. This announcement is the icing on the cake."
Although the list of people who will attend has yet to be finalised, Higdon says they are likely to include Evelyn Lauder, the New York socialite and philanthropist of the cosmetics family; Betsy Bloomingdale of the department store family; Patty Hearst, the heiress and kidnap victim; Robert Trump, younger brother of Donald; Sir Elton John and David Furnish; Lord Rothschild; and Nemir Kirdar, the Iraqi-born billionaire, founder of the Bahrain-based Investcorp and former owner of Saks Fifth Avenue.
The second and greater test will be a visit by Charles to America being prepared for the autumn. Palace insiders say no decision has been made about whether his wife will accompany him. If she does and the American public warms to her, it would cement her rehabilitation (she was booed after the death of Diana).
With the two openly acknowledged as a couple, their London base of Clarence House would come alive. It has been redecorated in expensive, more contemporary style by Robert Kime, the designer who worked closely with Parker Bowles both here and at Birkhall, the couple's Highland retreat.
As Emma Soames, the editor of Saga magazine and who knows Parker Bowles's world, said: "I think we already have a good idea of what the court will be like - deep comfort, delicious food, exquisitely arranged parties, entertainment of the highest calibre and velvet and diamonds in abundance."
Among friends of Parker Bowles who are likely to enjoy such opulence is the painter Amanda Ward, the wife of Gerald Ward who is a godfather to Harry and a confidant of Charles.
Another friend drawn up the social scale will be Jane von Westenholz, married to Baron Piers von Westenholz, a businessman who specialises in high-class furniture. She is regularly seen dining with Parke Bowles in some of London’s smartest restaurants.
NOT that all the visitors to Clarence House will be of older generations. With the marriage, Parker Bowles's children Tom and Laura will become part of the family and Charles is setting up trust funds for them. Laura runs an art gallery in London and Tom is a food writer with a penchant for poker, which may make for a lively combination with Harry's liking for parties.
The risk is that the future king and his consort will be seen as married - but divorced from ordinary people. That was the snap judgment of some of the American press last week. One former London correspondent for The Washington Post said that "with Diana's incandescence long gone . . . the British royals are a dour and frumpy bunch".
Morton agreed. "Charles and Camilla will be a Marks & Spencer monarchy: comfortable, middle of the road but out of touch. Camilla is decent, sensible, funny and they enjoy an enduring love affair, but that is not the point. Monarchy is about symbolism, and the sexual politics of this is that Diana was a woman who women of today can identify with," he said.
"Camilla, however down-to-earth she is, represents an old-fashioned identity of women. A woman in the shadows, silent, decorous and supportive of her husband.
"It takes the monarchy backwards. Charles is an old- fashioned guy. He is the king of the old fogeys."
The real insiders among the Charles-and-Camilla set resemble an almost Edwardian elite. They include the Palmer-Tomkinson family, who loaned the couple Dummer Grange in Hampshire for their trysts; the Marquess and Marchioness of Douro; the Earl and Countess of Halifax, who loaned Garrowby, near York, and "Debo", the Duchess of Devonshire, who let them stay at Chatsworth in Derbyshire.
These landed families, not well known by the public, reek of tradition and history. The Marquess of Douro is the eldest son of the Duke of Wellington, whose ancestor won the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Other close friends include Lord Romsey, grandson of Earl Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, and Geoffrey and Brenda Kent, who have made their money by providing upmarket holidays and are closely involved in Charles's charity work.
The contrast with the "court of king Tony" and the prime minister's guests at his country home of Chequers could not be starker. Among Blair's closest advisers are Lord Birt, the son of a tyre salesman, and Alan Milburn, whose mother was an unmarried NHS secretary and who was brought up on a council estate in the north Durham coalfields.
This gulf between the future monarch's coterie and the present government's direction is potentially disruptive, according to Tristram Hunt, the historian. "Britain faces the prospect of a politically adventurous Prince Charles assuming the throne with all the archaic pomp and circumstance, but lacking the popular support enjoyed by the Queen," Hunt wrote in an analysis of the prince's political meddling.
"If that were to occur with a less indulgent prime minister [Gordon Brown?] in a more hostile climate, the consequences for the House of Windsor could be disastrous."
Will Parker Bowles's ascendancy compound or constrain the likelihood of a clash? The omens are mixed. Some observers point out that she sees her duty as being Charles's rock, backing him in all he does.
On the notorious "Camillagate" tapes of the prince talking to his lover, there is a telling quote. "My role in life," she said to the prince, "is to support you and love you."
Others, however, see her as a natural member of a "squirearchy" that has little interest in such topics as nanotechnology, modernist architecture and alternative health cures. No longer forced to hover in the background, she may save the prince from himself, redirecting his energies towards other, more country-oriented pursuits.
Whatever the outcome, the marriage presages a social realignment within palace circles. Already the backbiting has begun. According to Soames yesterday: "A few of [Camilla's] friends privately complain that she has become terrifically grand. If true, this is a small price to pay for a princess consort with a sunny character. The carping will undoubtedly cease with a well directed invitation or two."
But the van Cutsems had better not hold their breath.
On the notorious "Camillagate" tapes of the prince talking to his lover, there is a telling quote. "My role in life," she said to the prince, "is to support you and love you."
Others, however, see her as a natural member of a "squirearchy" that has little interest in such topics as nanotechnology, modernist architecture and alternative health cures. No longer forced to hover in the background, she may save the prince from himself, redirecting his energies towards other, more country-oriented pursuits.
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I am glad they are getting married. It should bring an end to the last few decades of trouble and sadness.
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
God Save the soon to be King!
the arrogant way some of the snobs act (as if their titles elevate them above other people) seriously p*ss*s me off. Their hereditary titles mean nothing to me.
Signed up yesterday, I see. Welcome to FR....
Camilla and Charles are white trash.
Camilla and Charles are white trash.
How so?
Well, to be true white trash, Camilla would have to be his cousin....
Being white trash transcends nationhood....
"Diana was a woman who women of today can identify with"
Not this one-she always seemed neurotic and whiny to me-I can identify far more with Camilla, who was strong enough to make the best of a really bad situation for years. I do not begrudge them their marriage and happiness.
At times their efforts to project royal prestige and glamour have gone too far. On one occasion last year Charles was due to visit Gateshead. An aide rang the mayor’s office offering advice on etiquette, such as when to bow and curtsy. An official made it clear Gateshead was Labour country and that they did not curtsy there.
I do not begrudge them their marriage and happiness.
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PING!
They'll always have Paris (Hilton)
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