E-Paper
Prince Charles' low-key second wedding
The modest April 8 marriage of Charles and Camilla makes a sharp contrast to 1981 wedding to Diana.
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 700 million.
Not even his mother will show up for his second. The modest civil union of the prince and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 8 makes a poignant contrast to the fairy-tale trappings of his 1981 wedding to Princess Diana.
Then, the prince and his golden-haired young bride arrived by horse-drawn carriage, cheered by throngs on the street. He wore the uniform of a naval commander; she a dress of ivory silk taffeta with an 8-meter (25-foot) train. Guests included more than a dozen presidents, U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan and royalty from across Europe. Afterwards, the couple kissed on a balcony at Buckingham Palace before an adoring crowd.
Soon reality set in to spoil the fairy tale. Fifteen years later, the marriage ended in divorce amid accusations of infidelity on both sides.
On April 8, Charles and Parker Bowles _ the longtime love whom Diana blamed for the breakup of her marriage _ will be driven from Windsor Castle to the local town hall, where, like scores of other couples each year, they will be married by a registrar before about 30 guests.
The groom will likely wear a suit, the bride a dress by Robinson Valentine, a small London-based company she is known to favor. The guests will include Charles' sons William and Harry, Camilla's children Laura and Tom _ but not Charles' mother Queen Elizabeth II, who said she was staying away to keep the event low-key. Television cameras will not record the wedding vows, although TV will broadcast the ceremony of blessing that follows in the castle's St. George's Chapel. Led by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, it will include prayers, selections from Bach and Handel and three of the couple's favorite hymns.
The newlyweds will appear for the press on the castle steps before a reception for family and friends, reportedly including a finger-food buffet. But the crowds gathered to greet them are likely to be smaller than on that summer's day in London 24 years ago. In opting for a low-key ceremony, the prince and Parker Bowles are following in the footsteps of many other second-time newlyweds. "First marriages are all about the princess-style white dress, the horse-drawn carriage and throwing the biggest party of your life," said Victoria Black, associate editor of Cosmopolitan Bride magazine.
"When a couple marry for a second time, they're usually a little older and more interested in sharing their special day with their close friends in a more understated way."
It's certainly cheaper. The 1981 royal wedding cost an estimated US$2 million. Local authorities in Windsor charge 285 pounds (US$533, euro414) for a civil wedding on a Friday, and 156 pounds (US$295, euro227) an hour to hire the town hall. The final cost of the nuptials, however, could be hundreds of thousands of pounds. A few things will remain the same.
Charles and Diana spent part of their honeymoon in Scotland, where the prince loves to fish and stroll. Charles and his new wife also will have a Scottish honeymoon, at Birkhall hunting lodge on the Balmoral estate in the Highlands. Parker Bowles, an avid fan of country pursuits, may be more at home there than the metropolitan Diana.
Perhaps the biggest change in the past two decades has been in public attitudes. Charles and Diana's wedding day, July 29, 1981, was declared a public holiday and celebrated with a huge fireworks display in Hyde Park the night before.
Since then, Britons have endured two decades of scandal and sensation _ from Diana's affairs to Prince Harry's Nazi party costume _ that has cut the royal family down to size. The Friday of the wedding is a normal working day. In a survey last month by pollster ICM, 67 percent of respondents said they were either unlikely or very unlikely to watch the service on television. If the brisk trade at Windsor's souvenir shops is anything to go by, however, hearts may be thawing toward Charles and his soon-to-be Duchess of Cornwall.
Dhillons, a gift shop just down the street from the wedding site, has sold 1,200 tea towels and hundreds of Charles-and-Camilla mugs, fridge magnets and commemorative plates since the wedding was announced in February.
"Even the expensive items are selling," said co-owner Kashmir Dhillon. "We never thought it would be so popular. "They should have married a long time ago _ good luck to them," she added. "It's true love. He deserves to be happy now."
