It's all for you, granny!
By Clive Goodman
PRINCE Charles's wedding plans have been made as an extraordinary tribute to the spirit of his beloved granny, the Queen Mother.
Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will exchange vows EXACTLY three years after he said his final private farewell to the veteran royal, on the eve of her funeral.
And the night before his marriage Charles will shun traditional stag high jinks to stay alone at his late gran's former Highland home, Birkhall.
A family friend revealed: "It's where the prince feels her presence closest. In his heart he knows the Queen Mother eventually came to approve of his life with Camilla."
Vigil
Charles and the frail 101-year-old had a heart-to-heart shortly before her death where she told him: "I'm glad you've finally found happiness."
Our source said: "Charles had always wanted her blessing and it meant so much to him to get it."
The Queen Mother's body was laid to rest in St George's Chapel at Windsor on April 9, 2002, just a few yards from where Charles and Camilla will wed on April 8.
It will be the third anniversary of the silent vigil the prince kept with brothers Andrew and Edward alongside their gran's coffin in Westminster Hall.
The prince will fly down from Birkhall the morning of the ceremony.
The friend added: "He'll feel a great deal more peaceful after staying there. And his mind is bound to be reliving the emotions of that night he stood by his grandmother's coffin—it was the most spiritual of his life." Not only has the wedding date been deliberately chosen in homage to the Queen Mum but hymns and prayers for the blessing will be selected from those used at her marriage and funeral.
Even Camilla's engagement ring was originally the Queen Mother's—a love token from George VI. Our source explained: "Charles wants to make sure his gran would approve every detail."
Immediately after the Queen Mum's funeral, devastated Charles headed to Birkhall. Now he and Camilla will spend their honeymoon there too.
While some may see it as spooky, the family friend insisted: "The Queen Mother was the most important person in the prince's life. He wouldn't abandon her at such a special time.
"He feels Birkhall holds some kind of spiritual ley-line joining him to her."
Charles and Camilla finalised their wedding plans on a three-month break there before Christmas. He is understood to have asked Camilla's father Major Bruce Shand for her hand, but an insider revealed: "He proposed without permission from the Queen. He later told his parents that he meant it and would not back down."
Charles and his bride will seal their love with rings made of Cornish gold—10 times rarer than the Welsh gold used for Princess Diana's wedding band—to mark the new chapter in Camilla's life as Duchess of Cornwall.
Our source explained: "They want a complete break from the past."
But change is causing friction behind the scenes in the royal family.
Disgraced royal aide Michael Fawcett has been put in sole charge of the wedding arrangements at Windsor Castle. "And he's been unbearable!" said one Clarence House worker.
The freelance contract is understood to be worth more than £1 million to former valet Fawcett—who had to quit his staff job with the prince when an internal report revealed he'd accepted backhanders from suppliers.
Orders
Within minutes staff were issued with new orders about bowing and curtseying to Camilla.
And Camilla has been assigned her own royal security codename—Purple 4-6—along with an armed protection team from Scotland Yard.
But the saddest upheaval is how the wedding news has been a new source of heartache to Prince Harry, 20.
A friend said: "He was deeply affected by the death of his mother and whenever he looked at Camilla he saw the woman who broke her heart."
Before Charles proposed he tried talking it through with his younger son.
"But it went badly wrong," said the friend. "Harry was very upset, lots of door slamming. Charles just hopes he will come round in time."
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