LONDON, England (CNN) -- The heir to the British throne Prince Charles has married Camilla Parker Bowles at a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall, 30 years after they first fell in love.
The couple left the Guildhall arm-in-arm on Saturday wearing wedding rings amid cheers from hundreds of well-wishers. They were driven in a Rolls-Royce to the reception and religious blessing at Windsor Castle, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of London.
The 30 guests, including Charles's sons Princes William and Harry together with Camilla's two sons, were driven from the civil ceremony in a procession of buses.
About 15,000 royal fans crowded into shop doorways in Windsor while others took photographs on cameras and cellphones.
The wedding represents a break in tradition for the middle-aged divorcees to marry in a civil ceremony that the groom's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, did not attend. The queen was expected at a blessing ceremony at St. George's Chapel scheduled for later in the day.
The previous time Prince Charles walked down the aisle -- in 1981 -- 800 million television viewers around the world watched him marry Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral.
The couple, who have lived together since 2003, postponed the wedding for a day so Charles could attend Friday's funeral in Rome. The 56-year-old prince caused a row there by shaking hands with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. (Full story)
Following the marriage Parker Bowles, 57, takes the title of Duchess of Cornwall and will be known as Princess Consort whenever Charles assumes the throne.
The monarch also serves as head of the Church of England, and her son and future daughter-in-law are each divorced. In the religious ceremony, the couple must publicly confess "our manifold sins and wickedness" -- a line from the Book of Common Prayer, the inclusion of which is seen as an acknowledgment of their prior adultery.
'Some history'
The 56-year-old Charles -- that's his Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland -- met Camilla Shand at a polo match in 1970.
"She wasn't considered a suitable bride for Charles at that time," said Sally Cartwright, publishing director of the celebrity journal Hello.
"She had some kind of history. She'd had lovers. She wasn't a virgin. And at that stage, we were still thinking in a kind of '50s way that any royal bride to be a guaranteed certified virgin coming pure."
In 1971, Charles joined the Royal Navy, and drifted apart from his girlfriend. In 1973, she married a longstanding admirer, army officer Andrew Parker Bowles.
The prince and Camilla remained friends -- but Charles's fairy-tale wedding to Diana made the romance look like ancient history.
But Charles and Diana separated in 1992.
The same year, recordings of some rather amorous discussions between Charles and a woman widely assumed to be Parker Bowles came to light.
In a 1995 interview, Diana told the BBC that "there were three of us in this marriage" and conceded her own infidelity. The royal couple divorced in 1996.
Diana died in a 1997 auto accident in Paris, prompting an outpouring of worldwide grief.
It was 1999 before Charles made a public appearance with Parker Bowles as his companion, and her public profile has been carefully cultivated in a not-altogether successful attempt to ingratiate her with Britons.
