Charles, Camilla finally tie knot after 35 years
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-09 10:39

British heir to the throne Prince Charles Saturday finally marries long-time lover Camilla Parker Bowles, forever blamed for destroying his dream union with the ill-fated Princess Diana.

The wedding -- seemingly jinxed from the moment the middle-aged divorcees got engaged -- has generated only lukewarm support among Britons who have never warmed to the idea of Queen Camilla.

And Queen Elizabeth, never a fan of the 35-year affair that spanned both partners' failed marriages, will not attend the civil ceremony for her eldest son in Windsor's lowly town hall.

The wedding has been hit by blunders from the start.

Britain's Prince Charles (L) and Camilla Parker-Bowles attend a service in memory of Pope John Paul II at London's Westminster Cathedral April 4, 2005.[Reuters]

First the venue had to be switched from Windsor Castle to the town hall in a mix-up over marriage licenses.

Charles then had to postpone the wedding by 24 hours because it clashed with Pope John Paul's funeral, which he attended on Friday as the royal family's representative.

He was embroiled in yet another controversy after shaking hands at the funeral with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, officially shunned in Britain as a dictator.

"The Prince of Wales was caught by surprise and wasn't in a position to avoid shaking Mr Mugabe's hand," said a spokesman for Charles.

Camilla, hoping in vain for a low-key ceremony, said her big day was just a case of "two old people getting hitched."

But the matronly mother-of-two faces an uphill battle winning the affection of Charles' future subjects, who cherish the memory of Diana, the "People's Princess," who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 a year after their divorce.

The contrast between the weddings could not be more stark.

Charles and Diana married amid much pomp and circumstance in London's grandiose St Paul's Cathedral. For his wedding to Camilla, just 30 people will witness his nuptials in the town hall's Ascot Room. Opinion polls show a majority accept Charles and Camilla finally tying the knot -- but less than one in 10 support her becoming Queen one day.

"Who knows whether people will chuck tomatoes or rotten eggs at them," said Judy Wade, royal correspondent for the celebrity magazine Hello. "This is another nail in the coffin of the monarchy," she told Reuters.

CHARLES TO CONFESS "WICKEDNESS"

After delicate backroom negotiations with the British establishment, Charles, 56, and Camilla, 57, have won the tacit approval of church and state.

Prime Minister Tony Blair will attend a service of dedication afterwards in the chapel at Windsor Castle, to be conducted by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans.

Britain's Prince Charles kisses his bride, the former Diana Spencer, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London after their wedding on July 29, 1981. Prince Charles' first wedding drew royalty and heads of state to St. Paul's Cathedral, a million well-wishers in the streets of London and a global television audience of some 700 million. The modest civil union of the prince and Camilla Parker Bowles next Friday April 8, 2005, makes a poignant contrast to the fairy-tale trappings of his 1981 wedding, as not even his mother the Queen will show up for his second ceremony.[AP/file]

Traditionalists in the Anglican Church were vehemently opposed to the future titular head of the Church of England marrying in church. Hence the compromise of a civil ceremony followed by a religious blessing.

In the service, a penitent Charles will acknowledge and solemnly bewail his "manifold sins and wickedness" and promise to be faithful to Camilla.

The day will inevitably stir painful memories for Charles's sons, Princes William and Harry, who witnessed firsthand the collapse of their parents' wedding and then lost their mother.

But royal biographer Robert Lacey believed they were phlegmatic enough to cope with the pressure:

"Like the children of any broken marriage, they can see the justice and pain on both sides. They are probably the least judgmental of everyone. I don't think they see Camilla as the wicked stepmother."

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