Big day: Prince Charles set to wed Camilla

Big day: Prince Charles set to wed Camilla

Saturday, April 9, 2005 (Windsor):

At last the prince weds his true love, in a royal marriage delayed for years by complications and put off for one more day by the Pope's funeral.

Prince Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, is not attending the civil ceremony, the public still bridles at accepting Camilla Parker Bowles as a future queen, and many pine for the late Princess Di.

But as the weekend wedding of the fifty-something divorcees approached, the town of Windsor was being buffed to a royal lustre, and the faithful scouted sidewalk vantage points.

Windsor packed

Saturday's wedding has brought a buzz to Windsor, a handsome riverside town 20 miles west of London that has been home to British monarchs for a millennium.

Hotels are fully booked, and souvenir shops are doing a brisk trade in royal wedding mugs, tea towels and even jigsaw puzzles - although most are emblazoned with the wrong date, April 8.

Julia White, marketing manager for the Royal Borough of Windsor, says, "it's a huge honour to be hosting the wedding, we're a very, very small town but we're used to these kind of events, we see the royal family a lot.

"The castle is obviously on our doorstep. But it's wonderful the Prince has chosen Windsor to be the venue of his wedding."

The wedding was postponed by a day so it would not conflict with the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Special invitees

Some 800 guests - including comedian Joan Rivers and Prunella Scales (TV's Sybil Fawlty) - will attend a blessing service at Windsor Castle.

There the guests will be invited to join the couple in confessing "manifold sins and wickedness," in the words of the Book of Common Prayer.

Following a bit more than five hours of ceremony and a reception, the newlyweds intend to head for the hospitable quiet of Birkhall, Charles' retreat near Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Charles' fiancee will enter the 17th-century town hall as Camilla Parker Bowles.

She will leave half an hour later, technically the Princess of Wales - a title she wishes to avoid in deference to memories of Diana. She will be known instead as Duchess of Cornwall.

Vantage points are at a premium especially if they overlook the Guildhall. One man put a sign in his window offering it for sale and says he's already had an offer of 500 and that he'll sell to the highest bidder. (AP)

(With AP inputs)