Flu Failed To Spoil Royal Wedding
Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla, Duchess Of Cornwall, are now in Scotland on their honeymoon, after Saturday's much talked about wedding that was more than three decades in the making.
Ingrid Seward, the editor of Majesty magazine, tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, the only glitch was that the bride had a temperature.
"Poor Camilla, apparently, had a temperature of 102. She had that dreadful flu that's been going around in this country. So she must have felt dreadful," Seward says, expressing hope that the new Duchess of Cornwall will get lots of rest in Scotland.
CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports that while the pressure is off,the hats aren't.
The fashion signature of the new second-most important woman in Britain seems to be in the choice of headgear, in this case a chapeau that had to be held on during a blustery trip to church in Scotland over the weekend.
This was the first public outing of the newlyweds and the relief seemed to show. The official wedding photo released Monday shows smiles on all the right faces. Not just the happy couple's, but also the queen and Prince Phillip. And perhaps most importantly, Charles' sons, Will and Harry, seemed genuinely pleased as well.
There are even reports of Camilla's former husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, who was a guest at the wedding, had tosted the bride calling her "a bloody good woman," which in those circles is as high an accolade as there is.
If there was criticism on the day, it was of the event's somewhat clinical nature. It went out without a hitch, but also without a kiss. And this from a couple who has been reportedly in love for more than 30 years. There has been plenty of speculation as to the reason behind the lack of the royal pucker factor. But overall, it went off without a hitch.
There also was much talk about the prayer the couple used for the ceremony from the Book of Common Prayer saying, "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed."
Asked if it was an apology of their affair, Seward says "That's part of the 1662 prayer book, which Charles is a great fan of. And in fact, that's quite common in church services to use that prayer book. The whole congregation joined in with it. I think a little more was made of that than was necessary. It's standard thing. Not in every service, but in a lot of services."
Certainly, all eyes were on the bride and what she was wearing. During the civil ceremony Camilla wore a chiffon dress, with an ivory oyster silk coat and large hat. For the blessing, she wore a porcelain blue silk dress, overworked with gold thread and a gold feather and crystal head-dress. How was the choice of attire received?
"Everybody loved it," Hilary Alexander, the fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph tells Storm, "I think it was quite, in a sense, predictable. Most commentators felt she would choose a coat and dress with a hat. We knew she would have a hat, because Philip Treacy had been announced as the milliner. But it (dress) was cut beautifully and it fitted like a dream. The chiffon dress underneath the silk coat had a hem that was embroidered with silk disks, so that was quite unusual. She didn't carry a posy just clutched a very small envelope clutch bag."
The head-dress made of feathers and crystals was a particular favorite, Alexander notes.
"Over here in the press, in the newspapers and on television, the way Camilla looked has been greeted really with just cries of surprise and astonishment and delight," Alexander says, "I think the gown that she wore for the blessing in St. George's Chapel was quite medieval in a way. I described it myself like a Guinevere gown. It had a beautiful train that spread out and billowed in the wind as they came down the steps.
"The tiara was actually made from ostrich feathers, or the quills of the ostrich feather dipped in gold. The tips were Swarovski crystals so they caught the sunlight. It was a kind of modern version, if you like, of a tiara. I think it was a very, very clever idea."
On the subject of tiara and the possibility some day that the Duchess of Cornwall will be queen, there was a very interesting headline that said, 'Could Camilla Be The Savior of the Royals?
Asked what the marriage could mean for the future of the royalty, Seward says, "I don't think she's going to be savior of the royals, but I think she might be savior of Prince Charles, who has rather a depressive personality on many occasion. She's a great person ,sort of lifting him up and making him feel better. And I think she'll give him the backbone that he sometimes lacks. And therefore, help him to do his job as Prince of Wales far better than if he didn't have her around."
During the wedding toast at the reception, Prince Charles said 'God bless his family, friends and his wife but "damn the British press." Asked if she thinks Cammilla will be able to survive the press, Alexander says, "I think she will. She's quite a hard woman. She is strong and she's very, very courageous. Anyone who can ride the hounds and hunt and jump over six-foot fences has nothing to fear from the press.
About the honeymoon in Scotland, Seward says, "They're up there at the home the Queen Mother left Prince Charles. They're joined by Camilla's sister, Annabelle Elliot, and her husband. So there is the four of them. I think probably Camilla will be spending a lot of time resting in bed and going for walks. And then, on Thursday she's doing her first public engagement with Prince Charles. She's opening a playground in the nearby village.
The couple will continue their Scottish honeymoon this week. There is talk of a first trip for them to the U.S., this coming autumn.