A British magazine has given the clearest indication yet that the heir to the throne and his consort will eventually marry – and that the Queen is au fait with it. This week’s The Spectator magazine claims that once the monarch’s Golden Jubilee has passed, “the royal marriage will be the next thing on the agenda.”
Buckingham Palace, however, is refusing to comment. “We never comment on speculation,” said a spokesman from the Queen’s principal London residence last night. And her son’s office also sought to dispel the rumours. “No permission for a marriage has been sought by the Prince nor has it been granted.”
Judy Wade, the royal correspondent of HELLO!, reckons the story is “a load of nonsense,” pointing out that the fact that both Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace are denying the story – a rarity in itself, since the monarch and her heir’s camps rarely see eye to eye. And although the country may have accepted Camilla’s place at the side of the man who loves her, a phone-in poll on GMTV this morning showed that 70% of the callers did not want Charles to marry Mrs Parker Bowles.
“The Prince does want to marry Camilla,” Judy went on, “but nothing will happen while the Queen Mother is still alive – everyone at court says that Charles would do nothing to upset his granny.” The story’s use of a “royal observer” rather than a “palace source” was another indication that this is a story without substance.
But the Prince’s mother is said to accept “somewhat grudgingly”, according to the magazine, that the “last great thing she has to do in her reign is sort out the relationship between Charles and Camilla, and in practice that means to smile on a marriage.” If not, then there are fears that if her son’s accedes the throne, the media will speculate on the more trivial issues of the subject – such as the couple’s sleeping arrangements.
Then, of course, there is the question of Camilla’s title. Many courtiers feel that for Mrs Parker Bowles to take the traditional title of the heir to the throne’s wife – Princess of Wales – would be disloyal to the memory of Diana. Nor should she become Queen, they maintain.
“My own view,” one courtier is quoted as saying, “is that it would be far better for Camilla never to have royal titles and a public role. She can just be called Camilla Windsor.”
If these latest marriage claims are true it will be interesting to see how the couple, involved in some way or another for thirty years now, do tie the knot. Since they are both divorced, a church wedding would be a sensitive issue for the Church of England, and The Spectator suggested that a civil ceremony, perhaps at Chelsea register office, would be more apt, followed by a blessing in church.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
