Queen, Prince Charles’ Companion Finally Meet

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II met the longtime lover of her son Prince Charles at a gathering Saturday in what royal watchers portrayed as a historic encounter.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the queen and Camilla Parker-Bowles were among 100 guests at a party Charles threw to celebrate the 60th birthday of ex-King Constantine of Greece.

British media said it was the first time the queen had met Parker-Bowles since she and Charles, the heir to the throne, made their public debut last year.

The News of the World, the tabloid newspaper that broke the story of Saturday’s meeting on its Web site, said Charles and Parker-Bowles now in effect have the green light to get married.

Charles has had to tread gingerly since his marriage to Princess Diana ended in 1996 with admissions of adultery on both sides.

After Diana’s death in a Paris car crash barely a year after the divorce, Camilla slowly emerged into the limelight.

Saturday’s meeting appeared to have been another carefully planned public relations exercise to win public acceptance of Parker-Bowles. Polls show that most Britons are not opposed to the relationship, or even to the couple’s eventual marriage.

Palace sources noted that Charles has said that he does not intend to remarry.

Since their first appearance together, when they seemed anxious as photographers snapped them leaving London’s Ritz hotel, Charles and Parker-Bowles have had numerous public outings and have looked far more relaxed.