Charles And Camilla Finally Wed

After 30 Years Of Waiting, Prince Charles Weds His True Love

(CBS/AP) 
Thames Valley Police, responsible outside the castle, had 550 officers on duty and Scotland Yard, which is in charge inside the castle had dozens, including sharpshooters.

Inside Windsor Castle's gates, tents were erected for the world's media which had descended upon the township, while every vantage point, from private balconies to the roof of a local liquor store, was converted into temporary broadcast location.

Hotels were fully booked, and souvenir shops were doing a brisk trade in royal wedding mugs and tea towels.

Charles met Camilla Shand more than 30 years ago discovering a shared love of rural life. But he sailed off with the Royal Navy without cementing their relationship; in his absence she married Andrew Parker Bowles, who is expected to attend the ceremony.

In 1981, the prince married 20-year-old Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral, a storybook wedding watched by thousands.

The young princess won the nation's heart, but she didn't hold her husband's. Charles acknowledged years later that he had broken his marriage vows after the marriage had broken down and despite his and Diana's efforts to save it.

"There were three of us in that marriage," Diana said later — but she admitted affairs of her own.

Many Britons took Diana's view, vilifying Parker Bowles as a royal home-wrecker.

Charles' and Camilla's marriages both collapsed — she was divorced in 1995, he in 1996. Andrew Parker Bowles remarried in 1996, and was on the guest list for Saturday's religious ceremony.

After Diana's death in 1997, Charles and Camilla cautiously began making their relationship public. Their first public appearance together came in 1999; the first public kiss in 2001. In February, the prince and Parker Bowles announced that they would wed.