SERVICE OF PRAYER AND DEDICATION
St George's Chapel, Windsor, April 9, 2005
Already at 13.15 celebrity guests began to take their seats in the 15th-century St George's Chapel for the second part of the wedding ceremony, the service of prayer and dedication, that was due to start at 14.30. Among the guests, included Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and the Duke of Edinburgh there were all senior British royals, foreign royals, eight governors-general, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, leaders of opposition parties and nearly 800 other guests including screen and stage stars invited as personal friends. At 14.30 as the strains of The Last Spring by Grieg faded, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh joined the guests for the blessing ceremony in St George's Chapel and to see their son and daughter-in-law together as a married couple for the first time. The Queen, wearing a cream coat with a diamond brooch, a cream hat and clutching a black patent leather handbag walked to her seat at the front of the chapel as strings played the Adagio from Oboe Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, by Tomaso Albinoni. At 14.33 the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived at St George's Chapel, Windsor for the dedication and blessing of their marriage. The newly-weds smiled at the assembled guests as they walked up the aisle together and took their positions at the front of the chapel to sing the first hymn, Immortal, Invisible. At 15.09 the couple walked through the west door of St George's Chapel after the ceremony. For the first time they looked relaxed. They were closely followed by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. While they stood on the chapel's steps the castle's bells rang out. The couple shortly posed for photographers before walking down to the Horseshoe Cloisters to the applause of family, friends and other guests. There some 2000 members of the public had followed the proceedings being broadcasted on loudspeakers. The groupl included representatives from a number of charities and organisations that are connected to the couple. At 15.20 the Queen and Prince Philip were driven from the chapel while the rest of the Royal Family got back on to the bus. The newlyweds spent some ten minutes chatting to the gathered crowd ands shook hands with some of them. Afterwards the couple were ushered back into their car to be taken to the castle for the official photographs, that were taken by Hugo Burnand and only were released on Monday.
Dress
The Duchess of Cornwall wore a porcelain blue silk dress with hand painted ikat design, hand embroidered with gold thread work. Tones of blue and gold were the favoured colours. The designer’s starting point was Mrs Parker Bowles’ comment that she liked the style of the velvet dress which they had designed for her to wear for the Gala night at the Royal Opera House. Robinson Valentine believed the dress required a sense of occasion for St George’s Chapel and so the aim was a flowing, elegant line, concentrating on proportion, fit and silhouette. The print and the embroidery create texture whilst retaining the lightness and subtlety of the fabric. The garment is hand finished. A piece of jewellery which belonged to Mrs Parker Bowles’ mother became the inspiration for the fabric design. Robinson Valentine carried out research on embroidery, technique and fabric in the textile collection at the V&A and after in-depth research decided that to achieve the desired effect they would need to create their own fabric. To give the dress a light and effortless appearance, the fabric was initially treated to remove any stiffness and give it more fluidity. The hand embroidery combines five tones of gold thread, creating depth and opulence and was carried out in-house at Robinson Valentine. Work on the outfit started on 21st February and continued until the final fitting on Tuesday 5th April. There were two initial meetings followed by eight fittings.
Shoes
At the reception, The Duchess of Cornwall wore an court shoe with a soft point toe and a 5.5 cm heel in pale grey shot silk. The shoe had a subtle gold embroidery detail on the toe. It is bespoke and was designed to match the dress. The shoes were designed by Linda Bennett of LK Bennett.
Hat
The Duchess of Cornwall wore a gold leafed feather headdress tipped with Swarovski Diamonds designed and made by Philip Treacy.
Bouquet
Mrs Parker Bowles carried a small, simple elegant floral bouquet bound with silk from her dress. Complementing the grey blue of her dress, Auricular flowers in dusty shades of greys and creams with touches of gold, have been mixed with clusters of Lily of the Valley both for the scent and the sentiment. Again, these flowers are cut from English grown plants later to be grown in the gardens at Highgrove. A sprig of myrtle, representing happy marriage, was sent from a well wisher in Cornwall for the bouquet.
Main decoration in The Chapel
The main four decorations in The Chapel were: mature English grown flowering trees Malus Evereste – a flowering crabapple named after Sir Edmund Hilary’s conquest of Everest in the Coronation year; the Great White Blossom; and Prunus Hai Haiku, (each about 4 – 5m high) in wooden boxes made by a carpenter at Highgrove. These were under-planted with English meadow such as cowslips, fritillaries, camellias, pulsatilla, anemone, violas and narcissi from The Duchy of Cornwall nurseries. All trees and plants will be planted in Their Royal Highnesses’ gardens at Highgrove and Clarence House as a lasting memory of the day.
Under the Choir
Under the Choir screen there were a hedge of creamy-white blossoms to give an elegant reflective mood. Again this is under planted with meadow flowers and grasses.
The Altar
Decorating the two large candlesticks – a gift to the church from The Prince’s great grandfather, George V, were Banksian roses, Lily of the Valley, Hyacinths flowers (the symbol of enduring love) from Highgrove and Narcissi from the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall.
Outside the Chapel
There were two banks of jonquils and daffodils which were given by a Cornish flower grower. They framed the Galilee porch to welcome The Prince and The Duchess of Cornwall. Mrs Parker Bowles worked closely with Shane Connolly of Shane Connolly Flowers Ltd for the flowers and arrangements.
The Prince of Wales
The Prince wore a black morning suit and grey pin stripe trousers made by Anderson and Sheppard with a grey waistcoat. He wore a stiff collar shirt with a blue and yellow tie. The Prince wore a helibor from his Highgrove garden in his buttonhole.
Princes William and Harry
The Princes wore wear black morning suit from Gieves and Hawkes with grey and black pin striped trousers. Harry wore a grey waistcoat and William wore a pale blue waistcoat. They both wore tie-pins given to them from HM The Queen that belonged to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.