Charles and Camilla to marry in April

Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles. Picture / Reuters

LONDON - Prince Charles is to marry his partner Camilla Parker Bowles, the Prince's office said last night.

But she will never be Queen.

Upon marriage she will become Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall, and when Charles becomes King she will be known as the Princess Consort.

Clarence House officials did not announce details of the wedding plans, but Sky News TV reported that the heir to the throne would marry on April 8 at Windsor Castle, west of London.

Charles is due to visit New Zealand from March 5 to 10, touring Otago, Wellington and Auckland.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister last night said as far as they knew Prince Charles was still coming to New Zealand.

The Prince was previously married to Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

The move ends years of speculation on the relationship of Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles, which has spanned decades.

Prince Charles, 56, dated 58-year-old Mrs Parker Bowles, a divorcee, many years before he married Diana in 1981.

They remained friends, and Diana blamed their relationship for the failure of her marriage.

"There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," Diana said in a 1995 interview.

In 1994, Prince Charles admitted in a television documentary that he had strayed from his marriage vows, but insisted the infidelity happened only after the marriage was "irretrievably broken down, us both having tried".

The pair divorced in 1996.

The marriage is a sensitive issue because Mrs Parker Bowles' former husband is still alive. Charles, once King, will be the supreme governor of the Church of England and some Anglicans remain opposed to remarriage of divorcees.

The church is officially neutral on the issue, but former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey recently urged the couple to marry.

Last year, a poll indicated that more Britons support Prince Charles marrying Mrs Parker Bowles than oppose it.

Thirty-two per cent of respondents said they would support Charles if he remarried, while 29 per cent were opposed. Thirty-eight per cent said they didn't care and 2 per cent had no opinion.

Mrs Parker Bowles' current position means her status is dogged with problems, including her seating at social functions away from the heir to the throne.

Last June, Mrs Parker Bowles was mentioned in the Prince's accounts, moving into a new realm of acceptance. This week, there was controversy over how her lifestyle was funded by the Prince.

The news of the marriage broke just as the usual weekly Cabinet meeting was beginning.

Last night's announcement comes before the completion of the inquest into the death of Diana. Former head of the Metropolitan Police Sir John Stevens is still investigating the car crash in which she died.

- AGENCIES