Pool Photo by Darren Staples

The couple greeted well-wishers gathered outside St. George's Chapel today.

April 10, 2005
Charles and Camilla, Married, Without a Hitch
By SARAH LYALL

WINDSOR, England, April 9 - Given all the twists of fate and circumstance that have conspired against it, perhaps the most wondrous thing about the wedding on Saturday between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles was that it took place at all.

But it did, and nothing went wrong. On Saturday, after 33 star-crossed and often unhappy years, through other marriages, bitter divorces, violent public opprobrium and familial dismay, Charles and Camilla finally married.

When the civil service was over and the couple emerged arm in arm from the Guildhall in the middle of this Berkshire town, Camilla had become not only the wife of the heir to the throne, but also a member of the royal family. Hereafter (unless she becomes queen, which she has said she does not want to be) the former Mrs. Parker Bowles will be known officially as Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The crowds were nothing like those that turned out on that long-ago day when Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a wedding that captivated the world and seemed to fill everyone's heart with hope. This was different. If there was a general mood in the air throughout the long day, which included a blessing of the wedding at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, it was one of sympathy for comfortable middle-aged love, and a recognition of its differences from the heady but often unknowing love of youth.

"When these vows are made by people who have been battered by life, they somehow have more force and impact than when they are made by people in their twenties, when it's easier to say such things," the novelist Robert Harris told The Daily Telegraph, which on Saturday printed a page full of tributes to Charles and Camilla from various friends.

Ann Fitzpatrick, who had come to Windsor to catch a glimpse of the couple, said that she was not particularly fond of the monarchy or even of Charles, but that she wanted to show support for a late-in-life marriage.

"You go through it with more maturity, and not as much ignorance," said Ms. Fiztpatrick, 47. (She herself is hoping to marry her longtime partner, the father of her two children, she said, and maybe Charles's wedding will help nudge him on.) "They've had so many problems," Ms. Fitzpatrick said of the royal couple. "They're not aiming at perfection, just happiness."

The contrast with the prince's first wedding could hardly have been more striking. Charles and Diana married in an enormous church in front of hundreds of people, in a ceremony watched by millions around the world; Charles and Camilla were married in a modest room barely big enough for themselves and their two dozen or so guests.

The first time, Charles was an inexperienced 32-year-old, and his bride was a strikingly unworldly 20-year-old. This time, the prince is 56, his wife is 57, and they have been around the block and back. Each has married and divorced, and each has two children, all of whom attended the civil service (Prince William, nervously checking the pocket of his waistcoat for the rings as he went into the Guildhall, served as best man).

In the wedding 24 years ago, Diana was all but swallowed up by her huge, frothy, meringue-like extravaganza of a dress, with sleeves that puffed out like cotton candy and a train that seemed wearyingly to go on forever. For his part, the groom looked like he was going to a costume party, wearing an almost foppishly elaborate military uniform, complete with a sword.

This time around, the bride was in an elegant cream suit and broad-brimmed hat, and the groom wore the sort of smart morning suit that makes even the most awkward Englishman look dashing. He had been a young, overdressed man in a costume before; suddenly, he had morphed into something approximating Mr. Darcy.

The couple seemed to grow in confidence and happiness as the day went on. It is always hard to tell what members of the royal family are actually thinking; they come and go so quickly, and regular people see them only at odd, snatched moments. But in his public appearances early in the day, Charles wore his familiar look of slightly shifty unease.

He and Camilla entered the Guildhall behind members of their families - including their children and her 88-year-old father, but not his parents, the queen or Prince Philip - and left quickly, slipping into a Rolls Royce loaned to them by the queen for the short drive up the hill to Windsor Castle.

Once in the church, surrounded by some 800 friends, listening to music and readings that he had helped pick out, reciting the tough prayer of penitence at the feet of the archbishop of Canterbury, Charles seemed to take heart.

Camilla looked pretty relaxed, too, having by now changed into a long, swishy dress of pale blue silk. The couple were openly affectionate during the service, lovingly caressing each other's hands. Camilla beamed and Charles looked almost beside himself with joy (by his standards) afterward, as they walked down the aisle together.

The queen, by contrast, who joined the couple at the blessing ceremony, did not appear to be thrilled. Leaving St. George's Chapel behind her son and new daughter-in-law, she seemed to be making a concerted effort not to stand next to them on the front steps. Instead, she hovered behind, turning around to talk to other members of the royal family who were massing in the back.

Meanwhile, Prince Philip, who is said not to get along with his son, considering him self-pitying and self-indulgent, loomed far off to the side, leaving a two-person-wide gap between himself and Camilla.

After a two-hour reception of finger food and a buffet, the couple will repair to the prince's estate in Scotland for a honeymoon, where they will make a house party of it, with various friends and relations joining them.

With the new, pro-Charles mood in the air, even Piers Morgan, the cynical former editor of The Daily Mirror and a onetime fan and confidant of the late Princess of Wales, was moved to enthusiasm for the wedding.

"I think this is turning into a great royal occasion," Mr. Morgan told the BBC.



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- posted by Michael P. Whelan @ 10:33 AM