PRINCE CHARLES TO MARRY CAMILLA

[RTKangaMummy]

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Archbishop of canterbury

says it is ok with him and C of E

Prince Charles to marry Camilla

The prince and Mrs Parker Bowles first met at a polo match in 1970
Prince Charles will marry his long-term partner Camilla Parker Bowles on 8 April, Clarence House says.
The ceremony will be held at Windsor Castle and Mrs Parker Bowles will take the title HRH the Duchess of Cornwall.

When the Prince of Wales, 56, becomes King, Camilla, 57, will not be known as Queen Camilla but as the Princess Consort, Clarence House added.

Charles said he and his wife-to-be were "absolutely delighted" at the engagement.

The Duke of Edinburgh and I are very happy that the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles are to marry

The Queen

The move will end years of speculation on a relationship which has spanned the decades since they first met in 1971.

The wedding will be a civil ceremony, which will be followed by a service of prayer and dedication in St George's Chapel at which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will preside.

"The Duke of Edinburgh and I are very happy that the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles are to marry," said the Queen, in a statement issued on her behalf by Buckingham Palace.

Charles was married to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

The princess famously referred to Mrs Parker Bowles as one of the contributing factors in the breakdown of her marriage to Charles.

The couple, who had two sons - princes William and Harry - had divorced when Diana died.

A spokeswoman for Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, said he would not be making any comment on the wedding announcement.

She needs a good haircut!

trinny & susannah?

i think it makes an interesting change for middleaged man's marriage to gorgeous twentysomething clotheshorse to be fatally compromised by his relationship with a middleaged Shirey type. usually it's the other way around. neither way is nice, but this way seems better.

my poor dh can't believe how so many of you think like him..

first comment - do you think it is because of the furore over him spending money on her and the tax issue - given that this is near the end of the tax year

second comment - is she up the duff??? and was it a shotgun wedding......

me - really can't care......

Diana was the sacrificial lamb. I don't believe she had a clue, really. At 20, I still believed in happily ever after & would've secretly loved to be a princess. Prince Charles should never have married her. How many of us, with all our depressions & frailties, would not have cracked under the strain of marrying into such a family? Diana did her best and I was very fond of her, even though what I knew of her was what the media told me. As much as I admire the Queen, the British royal family IS an anachronism & its only value is its historical interest & the fact that it draws in the tourists. Maybe William can change that but I doubt it, somehow. As for Charles marrying Camilla, fine, but don't expect us all to call her queen. I hope they keep an extremely low profile.

To be honest, I still find very difficult to understand why a country has to put up with having the royalty, they are not real, grow in a fantasy world, they don't work and do charity crumbs from what is given to them to the public. Why on Earth England has not immitated so many countries who realised monarchy is well out of date (not even able to provide protection to the people that was the role that gave them power).

I understand the power of tradition but surely, looking at this thread I guess there should be other more important things that keep the British together, this definitively doesn't seem like one. But this is like a joke people use to tell many years ago... everybody wants them out but there's no way to find why is keeping in.

But probably my blindness to the virtues of monarchy is caused by my very republican upbringing in a country that sentenced to death his one and ownly emperor within months of his coronation

wrong smily there...

Everybody doesn't want them out, Chandra.

I like the royals, long may they reign.

If people don't like a country with a monarchy, why don't they move to a republic? There's a lot of choice out there.

Message withdrawn

Frankly, I couldn't give a tinkers toss.

Thanks raisin, I would have packed my bags and left many years ago but that decision was not in my hands. But honestly, if you want to boot any anti-monarchists out of Britain, what kind of Britain would you end up with? I would thing that a highly homogeneous society is a time bomb for many social problems. Won't you think so?

No, behead all republicans!

where have you been, coddy? This debate has been missing your balanced outlook

Message withdrawn

Cod, please do not sit on the fence on this one.

Fortunatelly we hold the patent for the guillotine

On the contrary Chandra.

www, pmsl @ will they have kids at their wedding! Perhaps wondermom is CPB

Message withdrawn

I'm not a big fan of the royals, but I think old Charlie does he fair share, unlike his brothers. He made a big mistake over 20 years ago (as so many othe people up and down the country do), and I don't see why he should be expected to suffer because of it for the rest of his life.
They've been in love for a long time, so good luck to them both, and I wish them a long, happy future together as a married couple.

There's always the axe...

Maybe they'll have a Vegas wedding and Charles will dress up like Elvis.

Agree, PG.