IT'S OFFICIAL - CHARLES, DI DIVORCED.

Byline: Ray Moseley Chicago Tribune

It's finally over. After 15 years and 2 months of battles royal, tears, leaks to the press, competing books, two children, mutual excursions into adultery, a Squidgy tape, a Camilla tape and a million or so photos, the marriage between Prince Charles and Princess Diana was officially dissolved at 10:27 a.m. Wednesday.

The fairy-tale romance that held the nation in thrall when it was formalized with a spectacular wedding in St. Paul's Cathedral in July 1981 ended long ago. The marriage ended in the back office of a London court beside the River Thames with neither of the principals nor witnesses present.

Diana was at home in Kensington Palace, then went out a bare three hours later to attend rehearsals of a new ballet called ``X N Tricities'' at the English National Ballet - a longstanding engagement. Wearing a powder-blue suit and her engagement ring, she was mobbed by even more than the usual complement of photographers. But she kept her composure.

Charles was with his family at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The couple's two sons, William, 14, and Harry, 11, were with him.

Charles and Diana obtained a provisional divorce decree last month. But Wednesday a clerk from Charles' lawyers delivered the final divorce application and a check for $31, court clerk Robin West stamped the papers and it was all over.

``This is not more significant than any other day,'' West said. ``All divorces are very sad.'' It was the 5,029th time this year he has had occasion to observe that.

Charles remains what he was, heir to the throne. Diana ceases to be Her Royal Highness, the princess of Wales, and becomes Diana, princess of Wales. She also takes with her into her new single life a settlement reported to amount to $23 million or more.

So where do they go from here? Remarriage perhaps? Easier for Diana than for Charles. The Church of England, of which he will be titular head if he becomes king, frowns on the remarriage of divorcees. A Daily Telegraph poll published Wednesday showed that 52 percent of bishops, 56 percent of clergy and 45 percent of regular churchgoers think a remarried prince should not become king and head of the church.