Elton John Ties Knot
WINDSOR (Reuters) - British pop star Elton John tied the knot with long-term partner David Furnish on Wednesday, joining hundreds of gay couples across England taking advantage of a new law to formalize their relationships.
After a short civil ceremony, the celebrity couple emerged into the sunlight and greeted hundreds of cheering well wishers and the world's press, who had brought the streets of the royal town of Windsor to a standstill.
"Thank you," a beaming John mouthed to the crowds, as he stood arm-in-arm with Canadian-born Furnish.
Two young women rushed up to the couple and presented them with a wedding cake outside the Guildhall, the same building where heir-to-the-throne Britain's Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles earlier in the year.
The normally flamboyant pair surprised some pundits by wearing traditional black morning suits. The civil partnership ceremony was a small, private affair, attended by a handful of friends and with the couple's parents acting as witnesses.
John will host up to 700 guests at a lavish evening party on his nearby estate, including former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and singer George Michael.
"He is so high-profile, he has done the gay world a huge service by being so vocal," 66-year-old bystander Bob Charles said.
Charles and his partner of 40 years, Roy Williams, plan a civil partnership ceremony of their own in February, possibly in their home town of Windsor.
"HAPPIEST DAY"
Fifty-eight-year-old John said before the ceremony that it would be "the happiest day of my life."
The new civil partnership law gives gay couples the same property and inheritance rights as married heterosexuals and entitles them to the same pension, immigration and tax benefits.
Unlike in Belgium, Spain and Canada it is not a marriage, however, prompting criticism from some gay rights campaigners.
"By legislating a two-tier system of relationships, Labor (government) has, in effect, created a form of legal apartheid based on sexual orientation," Peter Tatchell of the OutRage! group wrote on his Web site (www.petertatchell.net).
Wednesday is the first day same-sex couples can go through with gay "weddings" in England, two days after they began in Northern Ireland.
In Belfast on Monday, Grainne Close and her partner Shannon Sickels faced a small number of Christian protesters when they became the first women in the United Kingdom to hold a civil partnership ceremony.
But there were no signs of disapproval in Windsor on Wednesday, only a giant cartoon held up by one well-wisher depicting Queen Elizabeth, whose castle overlooks the town, saying: "I thought I was the only queen in the village."
"It's fantastic," Richard Kendall said after John and Furnish had been whisked away in a limousine escorted by police outriders.
"I've been here since seven o'clock this morning, I'm a bit of an Elton John fan and it's combined with a truly historical moment."
Film producer Furnish, 43, who has been with John for around 12 years, welcomed the new law.
"It is one of the defining issues of our times. And I applaud Britain for embracing the diversity of our society," he said in a recent interview with gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.
John, with estimated sales of 200 million records worldwide and performer of classic hits including "Your Song" and "Candle in the Wind," previously married Renate Blauel in 1984 but they divorced four years later.
By Mike Collett-White
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