U.K. beefing up security for royal wedding

LONDON — The sturdy walls of Windsor Castle, which have shielded Britain's monarchy for nearly 1,000 years, face an unusual array of threats at next month's royal wedding: terrorists, anarchists — and Camilla-haters.

British police plan a huge security operation for the April 8 wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, an event that the country's top police officer has called an "obvious and enormous" target for terrorists.

Police will also have to contend with anti-monarchy demonstrators and crowds of spectators — many of whom blame Parker Bowles for the breakdown of Charles' marriage to Princess Diana.

Security arrangements fell into disarray last month when the heir to the throne switched his wedding venue from the heavily fortified Windsor Castle west of London to the nearby Town Hall.

The rushed decision was a practical one. Under British law, staging the civil ceremony in the medieval stronghold would have required registering it as a wedding venue, thus opening it up to other people's weddings too.

But moving the ceremony created a security headache: Officers will have to protect the couple and their prominent guests — including Charles' brothers and his sister — as they drive about a mile from the royal residence to the Guildhall in Windsor's town center.

Queen Elizabeth II plans to skip the wedding because, according to Buckingham Palace, her son and future daughter-in-law want a low-key ceremony. Instead, the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, will attend the church blessing of the marriage at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle and later give a reception, also at the castle.

Despite the monarch's absence, Sir Ian Blair, commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police and the country's most senior police officer, recently listed the wedding among several "obvious and enormous targets" for terrorists along with a national election expected in May and a G8 summit in Scotland in July.

Officers will sweep the route from the castle to the Guildhall for explosives, said a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police, the local force. Mounted officers will help police the route and some roads within central Windsor will be closed.

Security expert Charles Shoebridge said the operation will likely involve hundreds of uniformed police, snipers positioned on rooftops, undercover officers and body guards.