The marriage of now King Charles III to Camilla in 2005 was a historic event for the royal family. However, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip were absent from the ceremony. We now know why.
April 9, 2005. A precious date for King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It was in fact on that day that the couple got married, more than forty years after meeting. Their story is widely known. Surrounded by their respective families, the father of Princes William and Harry and the former wife of Major Andrew Parker Bowles therefore said “yes” to Windsor Castle, the stronghold of the royal family. But two people were missing during this wedding like no other.
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were, in fact, not present at the civil ceremony. There has been much speculation that Queen Elizabeth II didn’t like the venue or the bridereported The Daily Mail this Thursday, October 5. Others have issued the assumption that she disapproved of her son’s relationship. But the reason would ultimately be much simpler than that. As a monarch, she was the head of the Church of England. And the couple had previously been married. While recognizing divorce as a fact of life, the Anglican Church does not encourage it. The Queen, herself a fervent believer, could not question the values of the Church.
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Elizabeth II “victim” of her status as Queen
A few weeks before the wedding, she said to one of her friends: “I can’t go. I don’t think my position allows it”reported The Telegraph. His family history was probably also taken into account by the late Queen. Just before the reign of Elizabeth II, the monarchy had been thrown into chaos, perhaps even threatened, by his uncle Edward VIII’s insistence on marrying a divorcee, despite the restrictions of the Church. An insistence which led him to finally abdicate. If they were not present at the civil ceremony, Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attended the religious blessing, at St George’s Chapel. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh then hosted a wedding reception for the couple. If, at the beginning, the relations between the two women were complicated – the Queen even nicknamed Camilla “this bad woman” –, they ended up forming warm bonds. So much so that in 2022, a few months before her death, Elizabeth II publicly announced that she would like her daughter-in-law to become Queen Consort when Charles accedes to the throne.