Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will have a civil wedding at Windsor Castle in April where they will be blessed at St George's Chapel -- the scene of many royal funerals and marriages gone by.
The 15th-century Gothic chapel, located within the extensive grounds of one of Queen Elizabeth II's main residences, was the venue for the wedding of Charles's youngest brother Prince Edward to Sophie Rhys-Jones in June 1999.
On a more sombre note, it is also the resting place of 10 monarchs, including the remains of King Henry VIII, the beheaded Charles I as well as Charles's grandparents, George VI and the Queen Mother.
The low-key wedding ceremony for Charles, 56, and Parker Bowles, 57, both divorcees, will be in stark contrast to the extravagant event given by the royal family to mark the "fairy tale" wedding between the crown prince and his former wife, the late Princess Diana in 1981.
That televised marriage at St Paul's Cathedral in the heart of London, captivated the whole world, and ended in divorce in 1996, one year before Diana died in a tragic car accident.
Construction of St George's Chapel began in 1475 under King Edward IV and work was completed during the reign of Henry VIII in 1528.
{{/usCountry}}Construction of St George's Chapel began in 1475 under King Edward IV and work was completed during the reign of Henry VIII in 1528.
{{/usCountry}}The architecture represents one of the finest examples in the country of Perpendicular Gothic -- late medieval English -- style.
The chapel is a place of worhip for the sovereign and the royal family. Like Westminster Abbey, it is known as a Royal Peculiar, with the Dean of Windsor responsible only to the sovereign.
Its choir comprises of a mixture of boys from St George's School and men who live in houses in the adjacent Horseshoe Cloister.
The building is open to the public every day, both for sightseeing and for services, except when special royal events -- such as weddings -- take place.
Inside the chapel are beautifully carved stalls, while the walls are decked with helmets, crests and banners of the present knights.
At the back of each stall are enamelled plates displaying the arms of former and present knights.