Charles Gives Camilla Party Fit For A Queen
Prince Charles threw a lavish champagne supper Friday to celebrate the 50th birthday of Camilla Parker Bowles - leaving the nation wondering if he might soon be celebrating marriage to the love of his life.
Eighty guests - including Parker Bowles’ ex-husband Andrew and his second wife - gathered at Highgrove, Charles’ country estate, for canapes followed by a five-course meal and cake, then dancing.
Buckingham Palace said Charles’ bash was private, but some media royal watchers described it as Charles’ most public statement yet about the woman he has doted on for more than two decades.
They believe the widely publicized event - newspapers have run aerial photos of the party tent in Charles’ garden - is the prince’s way of gently easing Camilla into the spotlight.
On Thursday, Camilla’s birthday, the Mirror tabloid published a survey showing 67 percent of Britons think the couple should marry. But 44 percent thought that if they did marry, she should not be crowned queen.