Prince delays royal wedding to attend Pontiff’s funeral

BY DAVID V BARRErr
IN A REMARKABLE act of respect the Prince of Wales has postponed his wedding until tomorrow in order to be able to attend the funeral of John Paul II.
Prince Charles cut short his skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland, on Monday so that he could attend Vespers at Westminster Cathedral with Camilla Parker Bowles, the first time she has accompanied him when he was representing the Queen.
Once Rome announced the date of the funeral, speculation grew that the royal wedding might be moved to another day, despite earlier assurances from Clarence House that it would go ahead as planned.
Anglican leader Dr Rowan Williams was said to have wanted to attend the funeral, but had been scheduled to lead the service of prayer and dedication in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle following the civil marriage ceremony. Similarly the Prime Minister would have wanted to be at both events.
Within hours of the announcement of the funeral Clarence House announced that the wedding would be moved to Saturday and that Prince Charles would fly to Rome to represent the Queen.
“I think it’s a very diplomatic decision,” said Lord St John of Fawsley. “I think it obviously has caused inconvenience. I don’t myself think, if it had gone on [the wedding], that Catholics would have taken umbrage. But this will be very much appreciated by Catholics.” He added that he knew that both Prince Charles and the Queen held the Catholic Church in great respect.
A spokesman for Clarence House said Prince Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles “decided together that it would be the right thing to do to postpone their wedding”. He was adamant that “the initiative came from the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles. The Prince was very keen to go to the Pope’s funeral”.
The decision to postpone the wedding means that Liberal Democratic leader Charles Kennedy, who is Catholic, will also be able to attend both events.
Conservative leader Michael Howard’s office could not confirm on Tuesday whether he would be going to the Pope’s funeral.
A spokesman for Downing Street refused to confirm who would be going to the funeral from the British Government, describing reports that Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell and Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy would attend as “pure speculation”.
The civil wedding ceremony will take place in the Guildhall at Windsor at 12.30 pm. Three non-royal couples will be married at the same venue in the afternoon. The Grand National will start at 4.10 pm instead of 3.45 to avoid clashing with the televising of the service.