What does the pope have to do with a royal wedding? From a scheduling snafu to a bad cold, here's all that went wrong when King Charles and Queen Camilla got married.
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00:00What does the Pope have to do with a royal wedding?
00:03From a scheduling snafu to a bad cold, here's all that went wrong when King Charles and
00:07Queen Camilla got married.
00:09The term fairy tale wedding is frequently used, but like many things in real life, weddings
00:14are often accompanied by difficulties.
00:17Royal weddings can be just as prone to mishap as any other, like the numerous ways King
00:21Charles' 1981 wedding to Princess Diana didn't go as planned.
00:25Although it was a second marriage for both, Charles and Camilla's 2005 wedding had its
00:29own unique set of complications.
00:32Just getting to the big day was challenging.
00:34In 1993, an intimate phone conversation exposed Charles and Camilla's affair, ending their
00:40marriages and causing a PR nightmare.
00:42Their bond remained steadfast, but unpopular in the eyes of a public who revered the late
00:47Princess Diana.
00:49In 2002, Queen Elizabeth wanted Charles' private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, to try to end
00:54Charles and Camilla's relationship.
00:56Instead, Peat went the opposite route, persuading all concerned that their marriage would benefit
01:01the monarchy's future.
01:03According to Tina Brown's The Palace Papers, Charles' communications secretary, Patty Haverson,
01:08was also supportive, commenting,
01:09"'They were fantastic together, funny, and she was so good for him, you could tell.'"
01:14Charles and Camilla announced their engagement on February 10, 2005, with an April 8 wedding
01:20date that same year.
01:21Queen Elizabeth declared her approval with a Buckingham Palace announcement,
01:25The Duke of Edinburgh and I are very happy that the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Parker Bowles
01:29are to marry."
01:30But even though the path to matrimony was now smooth, the actual wedding day wasn't
01:35stress-free.
01:36For their engagement announcement, Charles and Camilla declared their intention to marry
01:39at Windsor Castle.
01:40In 2002, the Church of England changed its policy on divorced people remarrying, with
01:45second marriages now subject to the preferences of individual ministers.
01:49Even so, as the future head of the church once he became king, and with a poll at the
01:53time showing only 32 percent of people on board with the upcoming wedding, it's possible
01:58these circumstances led Charles and Camilla to opt for a civil ceremony.
02:02However, because of this decision, the couple quickly discovered that Windsor Castle wasn't
02:07going to work.
02:08A civil ceremony requires a licensed venue.
02:11Although Windsor Castle could have become licensed, it would have also become a public
02:15wedding venue for three years.
02:16Rather than risk having the castle become a new wedding hotspot, Charles and Camilla
02:20changed plans and chose the Windsor Guildhall, a historic building in the nearby town.
02:25For part two of their big day, Charles and Camilla did go to Windsor Castle's St. George's
02:30Chapel, where the Archbishop of Canterbury presided over a special blessing for the couple.
02:35While she skipped part one of the festivities, Queen Elizabeth attended the blessing.
02:39This choice was not out of ill feeling for Charles and Camilla.
02:42Elizabeth felt attending a civil ceremony conflicted with her role as head of the church,
02:46and she was dismayed that media coverage at the time falsely depicted her reasons.
02:50While King Charles and Queen Camilla originally set their ceremony for Friday, April 8, 2005,
02:56they ended up getting married a day later on Saturday, April 9.
03:00On April 2, Pope John Paul II died, and his televised funeral service was scheduled for
03:05the same day as Charles and Camilla's wedding.
03:07A massive number of world leaders planned to be at the pope's service, and Queen Elizabeth
03:11wanted Charles to attend the funeral on behalf of the crown, so he and Camilla postponed
03:16their ceremony.
03:17Camilla also accompanied her husband-to-be to the pope's funeral.
03:21Scheduling issues were not the only bump in the road.
03:23In the days leading up to her wedding, Camilla was under the weather with sinusitis and relying
03:27on the home remedy of chicken soup.
03:29By the morning of her wedding day, Camilla still hadn't recovered, and she was also struggling
03:34with substantial feelings of anxiety.
03:36To escape the situation, Camilla wanted to stay in bed.
03:39However, her sister Annabelle, with whom Camilla has a close relationship, diffused the situation.
03:44According to Penny Junor's book, The Duchess, Annabelle replied,
03:48"'Okay, that's all right.
03:49I'm going to do it for you.
03:50I'm going to get into your clothes.'"
03:51This comment was the catalyst Camilla needed to get dressed and ready on her own.
03:55However, Camilla could have benefited from a second opinion on her attire, as she discovered
04:00a wardrobe mistake after she was en route to Windsor.
04:03She recalled in 2022,
04:04"'For some unknown reason, I put on a pair of shoes and one had an inch heel and one
04:08had a two-inch heel, so I mean, talk about hop-along.'"
04:11Fortunately, Queen Elizabeth used her surprising sense of humor to help her soon-to-be daughter-in-law
04:16feel better.
04:17Camilla went on,
04:18"'The Queen could see it and she laughed about it and just said, I'm terribly sorry.'"
04:22This levity provided much-needed stress relief, and fortunately, Camilla was able to substitute
04:28her shoes for a matched pair so she didn't have to endure discomfort during the wedding.