Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The wedding of Britain's Prince Charles to a woman dubbed by one tabloid commentator "the Duchess of Frump" has stirred few hearts in America, distracted this week by the pomp and ceremony of a papal funeral. "America has a case of the royal blahs," said the Omaha World-Herald in Iowa, deep in the heartland of a country which, despite fighting a war for independence from England, has a soft spot for the glamor and old-world charm of the royals. "The marriage of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles on Saturday just isn't tugging at our heartstrings...

Staff at Windsor Castle have spoken of their frustration over "shambolic" preparations for Prince Charles's wedding. As recently as Monday many at Windsor were convinced that the wedding was going to be relocated to Balmoral to avoid further intrusive coverage. But they have been thrown into "utter confusion" by the rescheduling at such short notice - confusion which has grown greater every day this week amid a flurry of conflicting instructions from Clarence House. One senior member of Windsor's administrative staff said today: "You would expect a royal reception to run like clockwork - but this one is likely to...

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...

WINDSOR, England (AP) - First the horse race results, then the wedding. Queen Elizabeth II reportedly took it in that order Saturday as she toasted the marriage of her son and heir, Prince Charles, to the former Camilla Parker Bowles. The queen is a keen horse breeder and racing fan. She, like all of Britain, was keenly aware that the $1.32 million Grand National steeplechase, one of the biggest races on Britain's equine calendar, had been pushed back 25 minutes Saturday to avoid a TV coverage conflict with the prince's wedding, which had been postponed a day so he could...

For a knot-tying no-one seems to care much about, a remarkably large number of people keep asking me what my view of the Charles-Camilla nuptials is. Well, I wish the happy couple well, and I suppose it's for the best that he's making an honest woman of her. I'm not sure we're ready for a King with a "partner". Few of us would hold it against the Prince that his "fairy-tale marriage" didn't work out, were it not for the fact that he, unlike his bride and the rest of us, knew it wasn't a fairy-tale on the wedding day itself, and...

[World News] London, Apr 3 : Britain's Prince Charles sees the BBC as "an example of everything he dislikes", viewing it as "statist and left-leaning" media organisation, a newspaper reported today. The Prince's views, revealed by a friend, help explain his outburst against BBC's royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, last week during a holiday in the Swiss Alps, 'The Independent on Sunday' reported. "I can't bear that man," the Prince was overheard saying at a Klosters photo-call in Switzerland. "He's so awful." The paper said that Witchell may be comforted to know he is in good company. "He (Charles) has disliked...

LONDON - The wedding of Britain's Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, already hit by several glitches, will go ahead on Friday even if it clashes with the funeral of Pope John Paul, a spokeswoman said on Sunday. Clarence House said the date of April 8 had been set for some time and they had not considered postponing the wedding. "If the funeral falls on Friday, the wedding will still go ahead," a spokeswoman said of the heir-to-the-throne's plans. The pope's funeral was expected to be held between Wednesday and Friday. Buckingham Palace said they had not decided yet which...

CAMILLA Parker Bowles will be given the title Princess of Wales when she marries Prince Charles on Friday, the government will announce tomorrow. The title will be confirmed in a parliamentary statement in response to a question from Andrew Mackinlay, a Labour MP. It is likely to anger supporters of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. The disclosure, four days before the wedding, is potentially more embarrassing for Parker Bowles than the earlier admission that she will one day become queen. The title remains closely linked in the public mind to Diana, especially among those who blame Parker Bowles for...

It was a fairy tale when we still wanted to believe in fairy tales. The bored and lonely prince after so many years had finally found a young, beautiful, virginal princess. And on their wedding day, his mother was so happy her difficult son had finally found the perfect bride that she danced a jig. And they lived happily ever after. For about a week and a half. Of course, we didn't know at the time that the prince in question was a total sulk who had been getting it on with one of the ugly stepsisters for years. (I...