Portion of royal wedding to be televised

LONDON - Organisers of the wedding between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles say part of the ceremony will be televised live, allowing millions a glimpse of the royal nuptials.

The church blessing of the April 8 wedding, a 45-minute service presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury at St. George's Chapel in historic Windsor Castle, would be broadcast live, a royal spokesman said.

But the couple's civil ceremony, to be held at the Guildhall in Windsor in front of only a handful of witnesses, will remain a private affair and off limits to the media.

"The service of prayer and dedication will be shown on television," a spokesman from Clarence House, Charles's official residence, said.

He said the BBC would provide pool footage for other networks.

Televising the blessing was a sensitive issue for the royals because both Charles and his bride-to-be Camilla are divorced and, as future king, Charles will take on the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

The last time Charles walked down the aisle about 800 million viewers around the world watched him tie the knot with Princess Diana in an extravagant ceremony in St. Paul's Cathedral.

But an air of restraint and confusion has surrounded plans for Charles's union to his long-time lover Parker Bowles, the woman widely blamed for wrecking the heir-to-the-throne's first marriage.

Charles's sons William and Harry are expected to be among the selected 30 guests at the Guildhall, along with some members of the Parker Bowles family.

But the Queen, who has been slow to accept her eldest son's 35-year affair with the divorced mother of two, has decided not to attend the civil ceremony.

The Queen and Prince Philip will be among the 750 guests at the church blessing, however.


- REUTERS