The wedding of their dreams turns into a royal nightmare
By DIANE ROBERTS
Published March 12, 2005
LONDON - In 1981 the Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in an exquisitely organized and executed spectacle. Nobody stepped on the bride's train, nobody's tiara slipped. Even the sun came out on cue. It was romantic, perfect - except for the fact that the groom didn't love the bride.
Now the prince will finally get to marry the woman he loves, Camilla Parker Bowles. On April 8 - probably. In Windsor - we think. Unless the wedding turns out to be illegal. Unless it threatens to bring down the British constitution.
What has happened to the royal talent for flawless planning? From the Coronation in 1953 to the Queen's Silver Jubilee, the (first) weddings of her four children, and the Queen Mother's funeral, all went like a well-serviced Rolls Royce purring down a scenic highway. These impending nuptials seem more like a '73 Dodge Dart throwing a rod.
Life used to be simpler for the royals. In 1533, Henry VIII defied Rome, divorced his wife, married his lover Anne Boleyn and declared himself head of the Church of England. Though both Charles and Camilla are churchgoing Anglicans, they can't get married in church: Her ex is still living. So they decided on civil ceremony in Windsor Castle, followed by a service at St. George's, the royal family's private chapel. Then somebody noticed that the 1994 Marriage Act requires that Windsor Castle be licensed for the wedding. Once licensed, anybody off the street could demand to tie the knot inside the queen's weekend home.
Okay, Plan B: Charles and Camilla would marry at the local registry office, then return to the castle so the Archbishop of Canterbury could bless them. Traditionalists recoiled: a royal highness queueing up for quickie vows in the county administrative building? To be fair, though it's next to a McDonald's, it is an elegant edifice, built in the 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren. He's most famous, of course, for designing St. Paul's Cathedral, where the prince married the first time 24 years ago.
What was supposed to be a quiet family occasion, the regularization of a relationship that has endured for nearly 30 years, is spiraling out of control. Bickering lawyers cite statutes dating back to the Reformation. The Marriage Act of 1836 allowed civil unions for everybody except members of the royal family. The 1949 Marriage Act may supersede it. Or not. Two former Lord Chancellors (the title belongs to Britain's chief legal officer) say that under current legislation, the marriage of Charles and Camilla won't be legal. The current Lord Chancellor insists that it will.
The queen has let it be known that she isn't going to the ceremony, but will attend the service of blessing. And pay for the reception. The Rev. Paul Williamson of Feltham, Middlesex, is going - any member of the public can attend a registry office wedding - to object out loud.
Charles has complained that he's sick of being "tortured" by media intrusions into his private life. But this soap-operatic saga isn't just a People magazine story like the Brad-Jennifer-Angelina scandal or the Bush twins' latest partying misdemeanor. Whom the prince marries has implications for the British state. The Church of England, the state church, already faces schism over female and gay clergy in its ranks. Recent legislation proposed by the Blair government seeks to overturn civil liberties enshrined in the Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights. Further integration into Europe is also playing havoc with the old definitions and boundaries of British sovereignty. British identity, so long tied up with the royal family, is being challenged.
Would the Church of England accept as its head a king who wasn't allowed to marry within it? Will the British people, some of whom still worship at the altar of Diana, accept Camilla as his consort? It may be that the Blair government will propose disestablishment, finally divorcing the state from Church of England after almost 500 years. In the meantime, the House of Commons may have to pass a quick bill clarifying the situation, though the European Charter on Human Rights guarantees adults the rights to marry whom they will. There have already been nine official protests filed by citizens challenging the legality of a civil wedding, mostly from the ultra-conservative Anglicans. The marriage of the heir to the throne of William the Conqueror may go before the high court even before the queen has a chance to order the champagne and organic canapes.
It's enough to send Charles and Camilla screaming off to Las Vegas to get hitched by the first Elvis impersonator they can find.
Diane Roberts is author of Dream State, a book about Florida.