Queen Elizabeth II's controversial style choice at the wedding of King Charles and Queen Camilla back in 2005 has become the focus of a new viral video, as footage from the day has been posted to social media site X (formerly Twitter) as the couple mark their 19th wedding anniversary.
Charles and Camilla married on April 9, 2005, ending a decades long road to the altar that involved a series of dramas and setbacks, including divorces from their previous spouses Princess Diana and Andrew Parker Bowles.
The couple's controversial romance was criticized in the aftermath of Diana's 1997 death, though by the time of their engagement eight years later, public opinion had begun to soften towards the then-heir to the throne and his intended bride.
One member of the royal family who was pivotal to Charles and Camilla's marriage was the prince's mother, Queen Elizabeth. As head of the monarchy and head of the Church of England, granting permission for the heir to the throne to remarry a divorcee who was unpopular among the general public required a large degree of personal and institutional flexibility.
Though the queen granted her permission for her son to remarry, she was mindful of the church's teaching that marriage is indissoluble. Though Charles, in the eyes of the church, was a single man free to remarry after the death of his first wife, Camilla's ex-husband was still living and so conflicted with the church's principles.
As a way to work around her personal scruples and in order not to come into public conflict with the teachings of the church, Elizabeth decided not to attend her eldest son's legal marriage, which took place at a registry office in Windsor, and instead attended a blessing of the union at St. George's Chapel that occurred immediately afterwards. The blessing was a way of recognizing Charles and Camilla's marriage in the eyes of the Church of England without the institution having the responsibility of ordaining it.
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