William a witness at royal
wedding
Wednesday,
March 23, 2005
LONDON,
England (CNN) -- Prince William and Tom Parker Bowles will be
witnesses
at their parents' wedding, British royal officials said.
The
two sons will be among 30 people attending Prince Charles and Camilla
Parker Bowles' civil marriage ceremony April 8 at Windsor town
hall. Charles'
younger son, Prince Harry, and three siblings -- Princes Andrew and
Edward and Princess Anne -- also will attend, Charles' office said
Wednesday. Queen Elizabeth II will be absent at the wedding but
will attend a blessing ceremony afterward at nearby Windsor Castle,
west of London. The blessing ceremony will be televised, but the
marriage itself will not. Clarence House announced last month
that the 56-year-old heir to the British throne would wed his longtime
lover Parker Bowles, 57.
It is unprecedented for an heir to the
throne to marry in a civil ceremony, but the Church of England -- which
Charles will head when he becomes king -- has qualms about remarriage
for divorcees. Both the Prince of Wales and Parker Bowles were
divorced, and her husband is still living. Charles' first wife,
Princess Diana, died in 1997 in a Paris car crash. The civil
ceremony is expected to last about 20 minutes and will be conducted by
Windsor borough's superintendent registrar, Clair Williams.
Clarence
House said the couple would make the short drive from Windsor Castle to
the wedding venue in a 1962 Rolls-Royce Phantom V previously used by
the late Queen Mother Elizabeth. Asked whether Prince William was
happy to be performing the role of
witness, a spokesman for the prince said: "Very much so." Clair
Williams, who conducts about 100 weddings a year, also said she
was looking forward to officiating on April 8.
But
asked whether she would be nervous, she told a packed news conference
on Wednesday: "I might be nervous on the day but I can tell you, not as
nervous as I am facing a barrage of people like this."
Welcoming
the announcement from Clarence House that she would conduct the
ceremony, she said: "I am absolutely delighted and honored to be asked
to conduct this historic and absolutely unique ceremony.
"When
I became superintendent registrar of the borough just over a year ago
now I had no way of knowing I would be involved in such an historic
occasion, and it's come as something as a shock both for me and my team
but thankfully a very pleasant and nice one."
Wednesday's
announcement came amid speculation over whether Parker Bowles would
take the title of queen when Charles becomes king. Clarence
House insisted Tuesday she would be known as the "princess consort"
despite a statement by the government that Parker Bowles would
automatically become queen unless there is a change in legislation.
Royal wedding moved to
Saturday
Monday, April 4, 2005
LONDON,
England (CNN) -- Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla Parker
Bowles has
been moved to Saturday to allow Charles to attend Pope John Paul II's
funeral at the Vatican on Friday, his office said. "As a mark
of respect His Royal Highness and Mrs. Parker Bowles have decided to
postpone their wedding until Saturday," a spokesman for Charles said
Monday. Charles cut short his skiing holiday in Switzerland to
attend a memorial service for the pope at London's Westminster
Cathedral on Monday. Clarence House, the prince's London residence,
said Parker Bowles would attend Monday's service but not Friday's
funeral. Charles will attend the pope's funeral as the representative
of the British royal family, a Clarence House spokeswoman said. "We
hope the wedding will simply shift 24 hours," the spokeswoman said.
"All details will be confirmed later."
Earlier
Monday, the Vatican announced the pope's funeral would be held Friday
-- the same day Charles and Camilla had planned to wed. British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams,
both of whom were scheduled to attend the wedding, also were expected
to attend the pope's funeral. "It is expected that the
arrangements will be largely the same as previously planned and more
details will be announced as soon as possible," the prince's spokesman
said.
Three weddings are due to take place on Saturday
afternoon
at the Guildhall in Windsor where the heir to the throne will marry,
but the morning is free, the UK's Press Association reported.
The
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council insisted that these
scheduled ceremonies would not be moved to accommodate Charles and
Camilla. The royal wedding has already been hit by several glitches.
(Ghost of Diana?) The venue had to be switched from Windsor Castle to
the town hall in Windsor after a mix-up over marriage licenses.
Constitutional experts also have questioned the legality of a civil
ceremony. Charles divorced his first wife, Princess Diana, in 1996. She
died in a car crash in Paris a year later.
Queen
Elizabeth II has said she will not attend her eldest son's second
marriage, but she is planning to attend a blessing being given
afterwards by Archbishop Williams at nearby Windsor Castle, west of
London.
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