Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles

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The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles took place on 9 April 2005.

1 Preparations
2 Wedding
3 Blessing
4 Wedding guest list
- 4.1 Family of the Prince of Wales
- 4.2 Family of Camilla Parker Bowles
5 Commercial effects
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Preparations

On 10 February 2005, it was announced that Camilla Parker Bowles and the Prince of Wales would marry on 8 April 2005, at Windsor Castle with a civil service followed by religious prayer.

After the engagement announcement, the couple were congratulated by Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh [1], indicating that consent has been granted under the Royal Marriages Act 1772; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams; the Prime Minister, Tony Blair; the Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard; the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy; the Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Hain; and the Prime Ministers of the other Commonwealth Realms.

Her Royal Highness's engagement ring, reported to be an "enormous" diamond by Sarah Lyall of The New York Times on 11 February 2005, is a Windsor family heirloom that belonged to the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. With a 1920s platinum setting, it is composed of a square-cut central diamond flanked by six diamond baguettes. Photographs of the Duchess showing the ring to the media reveal that the main stone is not especially large.

The Prince was the first member of the royal family to marry in a civil ceremony in England. Dr Stephen Chetney, a Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford questioned whether Charles and Camilla could marry in a civil ceremony, as the Royal Family was specifically excluded from the law which instituted civil marriages in England (the Marriage Act 1836). On 14 February the The BBC's Panorama [2] uncovered government documents dating from 1956 and 1964 which suggest that it may not be lawful for members of the royal family to marry in a civil ceremony in England and Wales, though it would be lawful in Scotland. Clarence House rejected this. Lord Falconer of Thoroton told the House of Lords [3] that the 1836 Act had been repealed by the Marriage Act 1949 which had different wording, and that the British Government were satisfied that it was lawful for the couple to marry by a civil ceremony in accordance with Part III of the 1949 Act. Eleven objections were received by the Cirencester and Chippenham register offices but were all rejected by the Registrar General (and National Statistician) Len Cook determined that a civil marriage would in fact be valid [4], the Human Rights Act 1998 apparently superseding any previously enacted legislation barring members of the royal family from civil marriages. There were calls for a short piece of legislation to remove all doubt, but no legislation was in fact introduced. In fact the matter was never seriously in issue, however, as it is a truism of English law that a statute is pro tanto repealed by a subsequent statute to the extent of any inconsistency, whether or not the prior inconsistent statue is expressly repealed for that or any purpose.

On 17 February, Clarence House announced the marriage's change of venue from Windsor Castle to the Guildhall, Windsor, immediately outside the walls of the castle. This substitution came about when it was discovered that the legal requirements for licensing the royal castle for civil weddings would require opening it up to other prospective couples for at least three years.

On 22 February, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen would not attend the wedding ceremony, but would attend the church blessing and host the reception afterward. The reason stated by the palace was the couple wanted to keep the occasion low key. It was unofficially known that the Queen, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, could not endorse a civil wedding by her presence.

On 4 April it was announced that the wedding would be postponed 24 hours until 9 April, so that the Prince of Wales could attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II as the representative of the Queen. The postponement also allowed some of the dignitaries that were invited to the wedding to attend the funeral.

In keeping with tradition, the Prince of Wales spent the night apart from his bride-to-be at Highgrove, his country mansion in Gloucestershire, with his sons Princes William and Harry.

[edit] Wedding

The wedding took place at the Guildhall in Windsor 12.30pm BST (12:30 UTC) 9 April 2005. Crowds had gathered on the streets since dawn ahead of the service. A civil ceremony was planned because of controversy within the Church of England regarding the remarriage of divorcés. This was attended by all the senior royals apart from the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Interestingly, when Princess Anne married Timothy Laurence after having divorced Mark Phillips, she chose to do so in the Church of Scotland, the established Presbyterian body in that country. Remarriage of divorcees is less controversial in the Kirk (as it is known), and the sovereign is automatically a member of the Kirk (in addition to being Supreme Governor of the Church of England). For whatever reason, the Prince of Wales and his bride did not elect for this course of action.

At the wedding, the couple's witnesses were Prince William of Wales and the bride's son, Tom Parker Bowles.

For the wedding, the duchess wore a cream-coloured suit and wide-brimmed cream-coloured hat. For the blessing afterward, she wore a floor-length embroidered pale blue coat over a matching chiffon gown and a dramatic spray of golden feathers in her hair. Both ensembles were by Antonia Robinson and Anna Valentine, London designers who work under the name Robinson Valentine; both hats were made by the Irish milliner Philip Treacy.

In keeping with tradition, the couple's wedding rings are crafted from 22 carat (92%) Welsh gold from the Clogau St David's mine in Bontddu. The design of the wedding rings is by Wartski, a London jeweller that has held the Royal Warrant to The Prince of Wales since 1979. The Prince wears his on the small finger of his left hand.

[edit] Blessing

The wedding was followed by a televised blessing at St George's Chapel, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, which the Queen and her husband did attend, along with many foreign royals. Along with the congregation attending their post-wedding blessing, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall recited an acknowledgement of past "sins and wickedness" taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. CNN called it "the strongest act of penitence" in the prayer book, suggesting that the recitation of it is unusual; in fact it is simply the General Confession in the Communion rite and regularly (if not weekly) used at services in Anglican churches throughout England and, with minor variations, world wide. At the conclusion of the blessing, a contralto sang the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in Russian (and thus without the Filioque clause, which is being increasingly omitted in Anglican liturgy) by way of indicating an affinity for the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. After the blessing, the Queen hosted an 800-guest reception in Windsor Castle.

[edit] Wedding guest list

[edit] Family of the Prince of Wales

HRH Prince William of Wales
HRH Prince Henry of Wales
HRH The Duke of York
HRH Princess Beatrice of York
HRH Princess Eugenie of York
TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex
HRH The Princess Royal
Rear Admiral Timothy Lawrence
Mr Peter Phillips
Miss Zara Phillips
HRH Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
Viscount and Viscountess Linley
Mr Daniel and The Lady Sarah Chatto

[edit] Family of Camilla Parker Bowles

Major Bruce Shand
Mr Tom Parker Bowles
Miss Sara Buys
Miss Laura Parker Bowles
Mr Harry Lopes
Mr Mark Shand
Mr and Mrs Simon Elliot
Mr Ben Elliot
Miss Katie Elliot
Mr and Mrs Luke Irwin

Those not present at the wedding, but who attended the blessing ceremony afterwards, included Joan Rivers, Rowan Atkinson and political dignitaries, including Don McKinnon, Secretary of General of the Commonwealth, a number of governors-general, members of foreign royal families, and British politicians.

[edit] Commercial effects

Manufacturers of pottery and other commemorative items faced a late rush to change the dates on their products. However, sales of those with the incorrect date soared when people began to think that they would become collectors items.

For the wedding day theme park Alton Towers changed the name of "Rita: Queen of Speed" to "Camilla: Queen of Speed". Television commercials and signs around the park were all updated to reflect this change. [5] This, however, could be seen as a marketing strategy as the park had recently reopened and that ride has just been completed.