Royal revelation: Why Charles and Camilla were banned from marrying at Windsor Castle

Prince Charles is the heir apparent to the British throne, which is currently governed by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The 70-year-old Prince of Wales first met his second wife, Camilla, at a mutual friend’s event - the mutual friend being none other than Charles’s university girlfriend Lucia Santa Cruz, the daughter of the former Chilean ambassador to London. The pair have had a highly publicised and scandal-filled relationship through the years, with many sources claiming Charles has always spoken of Camilla as his true love. But when, after 34 years of knowing each other, the couple decided to marry, why were they banned from holding the ceremony at Windsor Castle?

After Prince Charles and Camilla met in mid-1971 they became close friends and afterwards began dating for a short time before Charles was stationed abroad with the Royal Navy for several months in 1973.

Upon his return, Camilla was engaged to Andrew Parker Bowles who she went on to marry in the same year.

Camilla and Charles remained friends through the years, sparking speculation through the years that their intimate relationship had been resumed.

A source close to Camilla confirmed that by 1980 they had indeed rekindled as lovers.

Reportedly, Camilla’s husband approved of the affair, as he had conducted his own extramarital affairs during the marriage.

Camilla and Andrew had two children together, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes nee Parker Bowles before they divorced in 1995.

In 1981, Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.

But his affair with Camilla became public knowledge in the press a decade later, after the publication of Diana: Her True Story in 1992, which was followed by the Camillagate tape scandal in 1993.

The tape scandal saw an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles published, causing extreme damage to Charles’s public image

After both couples were divorced, Prince Charles declared his relationship with Camilla was, and is, “non-negotiable” and they worked at improving her image with the public.

In February 2005, Clarence House announced that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged.

The marriage was planned to take place on April 8, 2005, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, with a subsequent religious service of blessing at St George’s Chapel.

However, to conduct a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to obtain a licence for civil marriages, which it did not have.

A condition of such a licence is that the licensed venue must be available for other couples for at least three years which the royal family did not want.

So instead the venue was changed to the town hall at Windsor Guildhall.

On April 4, it was announced that the marriage would be pushed back by a day to enable invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The Queen did not attend the wedding ceremony, but did attend the church blessing and host the reception afterwards, because the couple wanted to keep the occasion low key.