Queen's 'unusually sentimental' speech at Charles and Camilla's wedding revealed

Queen Elizabeth II's speech at Charles and Camilla's wedding reception in 2005 was 'unusually sentimental' for the late monarch, a royal expert has revealed.

• Queen Elizabeth made an 'unusually sentimental' tribute to Charles and Camilla on their wedding day, comparing their 34-year-long relationship to an infamously difficult racecourse at the Grand National. 
• Her Majesty did not attend the couple's civil wedding ceremony in 2005, but she did host a lavish reception at Windsor Castle for them afterwards. 
• In other royal news, Prince William ‘came across as anxious’ after adopting ‘similar gestures’ to King Charles.
  

Queen Elizabeth II made an 'unusually sentimental' speech at the wedding of King Charles II and the Queen Consort, according to a royal insider. 

The former Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall tied the knot at Windsor Guildhall in May 2005, consecrating their relationship of nearly 35 years in a civil ceremony witnessed by just 28 guests. Most of the Royal Family's senior members, including Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as Camilla's son Tom Parker Bowles and daughter Laura Lopes, were present for the historic event. 

The Queen famously did not attend her eldest son's second nuptials, opting to give the secular service a miss in accordance with her strict Christian values. 

Her Majesty did throw the married couple a lavish reception at Windsor Castle, however, where she also delivered some refreshingly heartfelt words about Charles and her new daughter-in-law. 

Addressing the party of 800 people, the late monarch kicked off her highly-anticipated speech with a nod to one of her lifelong passions – horses. 

"They have overcome Becher's Brook and the Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles," she said, referring to the notoriously challenging Aintree Racecourse at the annual Grand National steeplechase. "They have come through and I'm very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves." 

"It was an unusually sentimental speech from the monarch and it captured the visceral sense of relief the couple had, in their fifties, being able to make their enduring love official," Katie Nicholl writes in her 2022 book, The New Royals. 

The heartwarming toast was warmly received by the guests, many of whom had never heard the Queen speak in person before. 

"Everyone was in stitches at the Queen's speech," Jilly Cooper, a friend of Charles and Camilla, later told the Telegraph. "It was such a lovely affectionate tribute."