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Prince Charles pushes wedding back a day
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-05 10:16

Britain's Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles — beset by problems since it was first announced — now has been postponed a day to avoid conflicting with the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The wedding, which had been scheduled for Friday in Windsor, west of London, will be held Saturday, Buckingham Palace announced Monday after the Vatican set the pope's funeral for Friday.

Charles will represent Queen Elizabeth II at the funeral, the palace said.

Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles attend a service in memory of Pope John Paul II at London's Westminster Cathedral Monday April 4, 2005. Prince Charles has postponed his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles from Friday to Saturday so that he can attend the funeral of Pope John Paul in Rome. [AP]
Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles attend a service in memory of Pope John Paul II at London's Westminster Cathedral Monday April 4, 2005. Prince Charles has postponed his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles from Friday to Saturday so that he can attend the funeral of Pope John Paul in Rome. [AP]
Paddy Harverson, the official spokesman for the prince's Clarence House office, said Charles felt that switching the date was "absolutely the right thing to do."

Prince Charles and Parker Bowles made the decision to move the wedding after he cut short his Swiss skiing holiday Monday. Charles returned to London where he and his fiance attended an afternoon memorial service for the pope at Westminster Cathedral.

Parker Bowles will not accompany the prince to the pope's funeral.

The couple's major ceremonial occasion, a service of blessing, had been set for Friday. They plan to marry in a civil ceremony in the town hall at Windsor, followed by the blessing in the chapel of Windsor Castle and a reception in the royal residence.

The postponement was the latest in a series of glitches in the prince's marriage plans.

Charles and Parker Bowles initially planned to marry at Windsor Castle. But it wasn't licensed for a civil wedding, so the couple chose the decidedly more downscale town hall.

Then the queen decided not to attend the civil ceremony, immediately prompting rumors of a royal snub. She does plan to attend the blessing ceremony.

Speculation later surfaced about whether the wedding would be legal. But the registrar general dismissed a series of objections and the government's chief legal adviser said there were no legal obstacles.

There followed a debate over what title Parker Bowles would have after the wedding. Charles has said that if he is crowned, Camilla will become princess consort. The British government says, however, that if Charles is king, she automatically becomes queen — whether she uses the title or not.

Charles' office did not immediately announce the time of Saturday's wedding. But royal watchers speculated it would be in the morning so as not to disrupt plans of other couples scheduled to marry at the Windsor town hall on Saturday afternoon.

The change in plans caused palpitations for some businesses in Windsor, where hotels had taken Friday bookings for wedding-related parties.

"We are taking it all in our stride, we are hoping to be able to rearrange everybody's bookings, to help them out as much as possible," said Diana Lumsdaine, business development manager at The Castle Hotel.

At the Windsor Crafts and Woollens Centre, owner Kashmir Dhillon was ordering fresh supplies of royal wedding tea towels with the April 9 date.

"We will be the only ones with the 9th on it if it goes ahead," she said.

Others, however, rushed out to buy royal souvenirs with Friday's wedding date.

"People believe that they will be collectors' items and are keen to get their hands on them," said Gavin Williamson, managing director of Aynsley, a company which produces royal memorabilia.



 
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