Britain’s Prince Charles to Marry Camilla Parker Bowles
LONDON (Reuters) – British heir to the throne Prince Charles announced Thursday he will marry long-time lover Camilla Parker Bowles, the woman blamed for destroying his “fairytale” marriage to the late Princess Diana.
Aware of public misgivings over his lover, Charles ruled out Camilla becoming queen once he assumes the throne.
His mother Queen Elizabeth, who had been slow to accept the divorced mother of two into the royal midst, wished the pair well for their April 8 wedding in Windsor Castle, west of London.
The couple, lovers during Charles’ tumultuous marriage to Diana, plan a quiet, civil ceremony. It will be in sharp contrast to the dazzling church wedding to Diana, which was beamed worldwide from St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
“Mrs. Parker Bowles and I are absolutely delighted. It will be a very special day for us and our families,” 56-year-old Charles said in a statement.
Camilla, 57, will take the official title of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall after marriage.
Once Charles becomes king, his wife will be called Princess Consort, a fudge aimed at killing off constitutional controversy and one that legal experts said will demand a change in the law.
Charles was divorced in 1996 from Diana, who blamed “rottweiler” Parker Bowles and the prying media for the break-up of what had promised to be a dream union.
Charles’ sons William and Harry, next in line to the throne after their father, have also accepted Parker Bowles, who shares official rooms with their father at his London residence.
Parker Bowles is the great love of Charles’ life — the pair met in their 20s at a polo match and share a passion for country pursuits — but she has faced an uphill struggle to rival his former wife in the public’s affection.
ESTABLISHMENT RALLIES
Opinion polls show most Britons have gradually accepted the idea of their marrying but balk at Camilla ever becoming queen.
Now their fears have been assuaged with a formula that constitutional expert David Starkey derided as “an ill-thought out compromise.”
Once Charles succeeds his 78-year-old mother Queen Elizabeth, he will be titular head of the Church of England, which overcame clerical objections to his marrying a divorcee.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who heads the world’s Anglicans, will preside over “a service of prayer and dedication” after the civil ceremony, bestowing establishment approval on their controversial union.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who famously mourned “People’s Princess” Diana after her death in a 1997 Paris car crash, welcomed Charles’s marriage as “very happy news.”
NO DIANA
Charles and Camilla had a two-year love affair after first meeting in their 20s; Camilla then married cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles, divorcing him in 1995.
Charles admitted in 1994 that he and Camilla had resumed their affair after his marriage had irretrievably broken down.
Diana memorably said on national television “there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” while he was secretly taped sharing intimate pillow talk with his lover.
Charles’ biographer Penny Junor said of the marriage announcement: “This will divide opinion and some people will think it is the end of the world. But once it has happened, people will accept it.
“He’s very much in love with her and she with him. That’s just the way it is.”
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