Designers promise ‘fabulous’ Camilla at royal wedding

AS the countdown to the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles began, the bride’s team of designers gathered to give only the tiniest of hints about her wedding ensemble.

Couturier Anna Valentine, milliner Philip Treacy and shoe creator Linda Bennett said her outfit would be elegant, her hat very glamorous and her shoes simple and feminine.

The trio said she would look “fabulous” and that people would be surprised.

Discussion of colour schemes, fabrics and even the size of Camilla’s heels were all off limits.

Valentine, of Robinson Valentine, credited for Camilla’s style transformation over the years, was reluctant even to reveal how many people had been entrusted with knowledge of the top secret designs.

In keeping with tradition, Charles is in the dark about what his future wife will wear to their civil ceremony in Windsor’s Guildhall.

Camilla has had six outfit fittings and 10 hat fittings already and on Friday the design team will join her for the final dress rehearsal.

She has received a boost in the fashion stakes after it emerged that she had earned herself a place on the Harpers & Queen best dressed list.

The upmarket style bible put Camilla in its “showstoppers” category of women who know how to dress for a big occasion. Charles is spending tomorrow, which should have been his original wedding day, away from Camilla as he travels to Rome to represent the Queen at the funeral of Pope John Paul II. The Pontiff’s burial led to the royal nuptials being put back a day and added to the long list of problems that have dogged the ceremony.

These have continued, with weather forecasters predicting last night that snow, ice and blizzards will hit Britain in time for the wedding, which has been dubbed “jinxed.” It is set to rain on the royal parade and Windsor will be a chilly 6C on Saturday.

Calls were made on Tuesday for the Royal Family to foot the bill for policing the event.

The switch in date has reportedly led to a huge rise in the cost of the mass security operation after extra officers had to be asked to work on their day off.