The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles have finally become husband and wife - more than 30 years after their romance first began.

More than 20,000 people cheered as they arrived at Windsor's Guildhall for their small private civil wedding on Saturday April 9th.

Prince Charles and the new Duchess of Cornwall entered arm-in-arm to make their solemn vows. After the ceremony, the couple walked around and chatted to members of the public gathered outside the chapel.

Security was extra tight around Windsor with marksmen on rooftops, officers mingling in the crowd and police with sniffer dogs patrolling the route. However, the only public disturbance was a streaker who broke away from the crowd and was quickly apprehended by police.

After the walkabout the new Royal couple returned to Windsor Castle for a service of blessing led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. About 800 of the couple's family and friends attended including the Queen and Prince Philip. The Prime Minister, other political figures, diplomats, church leaders, showbiz personalities were also among the congregation in St George's Chapel.

They then made their way to a reception, hosted by the Queen, at the castle's State Apartments. There the Prince and Duchess mingled with their guests who were offered egg and cress sandwiches, mini Cornish pasties and scones. They included all the senior British royals, invited foreign royals, eight governors-general, leaders of opposition parties and a host of celebrities.

Following the reception, the newly-wed couple departed for their honeymoon at Birkhall on the edge of the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.

The wedding brings to a conclusion a relationship between Charles and Camilla that began when they met at a Windsor polo match in 1970, a year before the prince joined the Royal Navy. They became great friends but there was no proposal and Camilla married cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles.

Charles married the then Diana Spencer 24 years ago in 1981.

Diana, Princess of Wales, famously referred to Camilla as one of the contributing factors in the breakdown of her marriage to Charles.

Vocabulary

civil wedding
a wedding that is not held in a church, it's not a religious ceremony

solemn vows
serious promises that the people getting married make to each other as part of the wedding service

marksmen
people who are trained to shoot guns very accurately

mingling
mixing with. In this case the police officers were mixing with the crowd. They are watching the crowd but they look as if they are part of the crowd. Later in the text the same word is used to descibe people at the party. In that situation it means to mix socially.

sniffer dogs
dogs that are trained to find bombs or drugs by smell

a streaker
someone who takes all their clothes off and runs around at a public event

the walkabout
a word that describes when a member of a royal family, a politician or celebrity take time to meet and talk to the public who have been waiting to see them

the congregation
people who attend a church service

made their way to
went to. 'To make you way somewhere' is a formal way of saying 'to go somewhere'. It is commonly heard in announcements, for example - "In case of emergency, please make your way to the exits..."

Cornish pasties
a Cornish pastie is a kind of food traditional to Cornwall, a western county of England. Prince Charles has the title - Duke of Cornwall.

a host of celebrities
a large number of famous people

proposal
a request for marriage; when you ask someone to marry you

one of the contributing factors
one of the reasons