Charles wedding adds chapter to Windsor's rich history

History runs deep in Windsor, a royal town built around a 900-year-old castle, where a new chapter is about to unfold with the unprecedented civil wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles.

History runs deep in Windsor, a royal town built around a 900-year-old castle, where a new chapter is about to unfold with the unprecedented civil wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles.

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Charles, 56, will become the first royal to have a civil marriage in England when he weds his longtime partner at Windsor's Guildhall on Saturday.

The media has poked fun at a lack of pomp and ceremony surrounding the divorced prince's big day compared with his first wedding to the late Princess Diana -- a spectacular event in 1981 that captivated the world.

It is true that Windsor's town hall is a huge step down from St Paul's Cathedral in London where Charles took his first marriage vows.

In addition, a chapel at Windsor Castle, where he and his new wife are to receive a blessing, is being renovated and ugly scaffolding mars the exterior.

But the sense of history in a place that has witnessed the births, marriages or deaths of some of Britain's best-known monarchs, such as Henry VIII, makes it a worthy wedding venue for a future king, experts say.

"Over 900 years, the castle has been continuously occupied and inhabited by the royal family," said Bobby Latter, a professional tourist guide in Windsor.

The only remaining castle outside London from a ring of 10 that was built by William the Conqueror in the late 11th century to protect the capital, Windsor Castle is one of Britain's top tourist attractions and the town that spread out around it is also steeped in history about the royal family.

Secret passage ways fan out from the castle to surrounding buildings including one that used to belong to Nell Gwynn -- a mistress to Charles II -- who used it to visit her lover in secret.

"The knowledge of these places is already flying around the world before you get here," said Latter, who is running a series of special walks this week to mark the royal wedding, which will take tourists past the castle and Guildhall.

Designed by Sir Thomas Fitz and completed by Sir Christopher Wren, the Guildhall was built in the late 17th century on Windsor's central market square to serve as a town hall.

In more recent years, the handsome, stone building has lost much of its local government usage to become instead a meeting place for the mayor, who still has his offices inside, and a venue for civil wedding ceremonies.

Some 140 marriages take place there each year, but no royal had chosen to use one of its rooms before Charles and Parker Bowles, who opted for the Guildhall after complications scuppered a plan to wed at Windsor Castle.

The pair are due to tie the knot at a private ceremony in the small Ascot Room in front of just 30 close family and friends.

Afterwards, they will drive down a short stretch of high street to the castle where the couple will receive a blessing at St George's Chapel -- the scene of many royal funerals and weddings, and the spiritual home of the Knights of the Garter, Britain's oldest and most prestigious title.

An unsightly web of scaffolding scales up the outside wall of one half of the 15th century chapel as workers try to restore the building to its former splendour, but inside the high ceilings, countless stain glass windows and winding wooden partitions still make St George's impressive viewing.

One section also houses a unique shrine to the Knights of the Garter, who include among their clique -- which is only allowed to hold a maximum of 26 living members at one time -- former prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath as well as Queen Elizabeth II, Charles and the Emperor of Japan.