The Prince of Wales is to marry his long-time companion, Camilla Parker Bowles - although she will never be crowned Queen.
Clarence House announced today that the couple will marry in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle on Friday, April 8, after which Mrs Parker Bowles will be known as Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall. When Prince Charles eventually succeeds his mother, she will become the Princess Consort.
News of the wedding was welcomed across the Establishment. The Queen and Prince Philip were described as "very happy", the Cabinet and Commons sent their congratulations, and the Archbishop of Canterbury - who will bless the couple at Windsor's St George's Chapel after their marriage - expressed his strong support.
Even Princes William and Harry, Charles's sons from his marriage to Princess Diana, were said to be "delighted" by the couple's decision.
But the popular reaction was at best mixed and there was none of the excitement that greeted the news of the Prince's first engagement 24 years ago, when the teenaged Diana Spencer demurely showed off her large sapphire ring while her fiance squirmed beside her. Instead of a full-pomp royal wedding at St Paul's, it will be a "largely private occasion for family and friends".
A Sky News interactive poll showed 62 per cent of viewers opposing the marriage. And Morag Dalziel, a Times Online reader from Glasgow, wrote: "So Charles and Camilla are to marry? I can barely contain my indifference."
The couple first met at a polo match at Windsor Castle 35 years ago and are said to have instantly hit it off. Charles was charmed by Camilla's sense of humour and natural exuberance, which contrasted with his own more strait-laced personality. The couple also share a love of horses and country pursuits.
But the Prince failed to grasp the moment and by the time he returned from an eight-month naval tour of the Caribbean in 1972 Camilla was engaged to Andrew Parker Bowles, an officer in the Household Cavalry whom she had already been dating.
Charles and Camilla remained close friends, even as he courted and married Diana, and royal biographer Jonathan Dimbleby said their relationship was serious as early as 1986, only five years into his marriage. Mr and Mrs Parker Bowles divorced in 1995 and Mr Parker Bowles remarried soon afterwards.
Although Charles and his advisers have carefully nurtured Mrs Parker Bowles's profile since their divorce and Diana's death in a Paris car crash in 1997, gradually gaining acceptance of their relationship, many people still blame her for the break-up of the Charles and Diana marriage. The couple made their first appearance together in public in 1999 and have lived as man and wife at the Prince's Highgrove estate for years.
Others question how the Prince can remarry and still become, as King, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.
The Prince of Wales will be the first top royal to marry a divorcee since Edward VIII, who was forced to abdicate in 1936 before he could marry American Wallis Simpson. Although there has been no serious suggestion that Prince Charles should give up his claim to the throne if he wants to marry Mrs Parker Bowles, the decision not to use the title Princess of Wales is a clear attempt to minimise any public backlash.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said today: "These arrangements have my strong support and are consistent with Church of England guidelines concerning remarriage which the Prince of Wales fully accepts as a committed Anglican and as prospective Supreme Governor of the Church of England."
Charles spoke of his delight in a statement released by Clarence House. He said: "Mrs Parker Bowles and I are absolutely delighted. It will be a very special day for us and our families."
The statement read: "It is with great pleasure that the marriage of HRH the Prince of Wales and Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles is announced. It will take place on Friday April 8, 2005, at Windsor Castle."
The couple will honeymoon at Birkhall, the grand hunting lodge in the grounds of Balmoral in the Scottish hills near Aberdeen, where Charles found sanctuary with his late grandmother during his unhappy schooldays at Gordonstoun.
The couple will make their first public appearance together since their engagement at Windsor Castle tonight. Mrs Parker Bowles is expected to wear her engagement ring, a square-cut diamond with three diamond baguettes on either side, set in platinum - a Royal Family heirloom.
In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace, the Queen said: "The Duke of Edinburgh and I are very happy that the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles are to marry. We have given them our warmest good wishes for their future together."
Royal sources said the couple had been seriously discussing marriage over the past year but were forced to bring forward the announcement after the news was leaked to the Evening Standard. Tony Blair, who sent his own message of congratulations today, was formally told of the decision by the Queen yesterday in his regular weekly audience at Buckingham Palace.
Alastair Bruce, a royal commentator, said that there were no constitutional impediments for the couple, both divorcees, to marry, although it might provoke some soul-searching in the Church of England.
"As far as the constitution is concerned, it is completely acceptable, perfectly all right," he said.
"The Church of England will obviously have its own internal debate about Prince Charles's appointment as the Church's Supreme Governor in the future if he becomes king."
He added: "It ends this long period of waiting and wondering, it will allow Clarence House to move forwards and allow Prince Charles and his fiancee to live a full and happy life."
Nicholas Soames, the Conservative MP and a friend of the Prince, said he was "absolutely delighted" about the announcement. He said: "I'm very, very happy for both the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles. I think it's wonderful."
Royal biographer Robert Lacey told ITV News: "Obviously people's feelings about Camilla are very much entangled to those of Diana. It is pretty clear that people are not enormously enamoured by Camilla. People in the future will say that when you compare her style with Diana's, it is very different."
However Lord St John of Fawsley, the former Conservative Cabinet minister, said: "I am not a bit surprised by today's announcement, and I approve of it very much. I would say 'God bless them'. Constitutionally, there is no reason why the marriage should not go ahead.
"One wants to make it as simple as possible. If they are married, she is entitled to the rank and the style of being married to the Prince of Wales. Messing about with it would be insulting to her.
"Her previous husband was Catholic, but she was never Catholic. Thank God, she is not a Catholic - that would create an even further confusion. Given the circumstances, Prince Harry and Prince William have a very happy relationship with her, and are also friendly with Camilla Parker Bowles's children."
Baroness Thatcher, who was prime minister at the time of Charles's first marriage, refused to comment on today's announcement as she arrived for the inauguration of the new Churchill Museum in Whitehall. "We are not talking about that. We have slightly more important things to talk about," she said.
