04/04/2005

Royal Wedding postponed due to Papal funeral

The wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles is to be postponed until Saturday, due to the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The couple were due to marry at Windsor Guildhall on the afternoon of April 8, followed by a blessing at Windsor Castle. However, it ws confirmed today that the Pope's funeral would take place on Friday morning.

Clarence House have stated that Prince Charles will attend the funeral. The Prince has also cut short his annual skiing annual, in order to attend the Vespers of the Dead service at Westminster Cathedral, in memory of the Pope.

The couple were due to marry in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall, before moving to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for a church blessing delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The setback is the latest in a long line of problems to hit the wedding, since the Prince and Mrs Parker-Bowles announced their engagement on February 10. The original venue of Windsor Castle had to be changed, because the license required to hold it there meant that anyone could marry in the venue within the next three years.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh also announced that they would only attend the church blessing, not the civil ceremony – a move that led to some Royal experts commenting that the Queen was 'snubbing' the wedding, although this was strongly denied by both Buckingham Palace and Clarence House.

Questions had also been raised over the legality of the marriage and whether members of the Royal Family could have a civil ceremony in England. However, Registrar General Len Cook ruled the couple's marriage to be legal last month.

(KMcA/SP)

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