UK poll questions Charles' role

LONDON - Prince Charles may have won public support for his engagement to lover Camilla Parker Bowles but he faces a struggle to convince the British nation he should one day be king, a poll showed on Friday.

Two-thirds of Britons accept Charles' plans to marry Camilla, his mistress during his turbulent marriage to the late Princess Diana, the YouGov survey in the Daily Telegraph newspaper found.

But a narrow majority wants the monarchy to skip a generation, with Queen Elizabeth handing the crown to her grandson Prince William, 22, on her death or abdication.

"He cannot remarry and ascend the throne," Diana's former butler Paul Burrell wrote in the Daily Mirror. "Charles should renounce his birthright and allow Prince William to be heir apparent. "

Royal watchers say Charles, 56, would never consider such a move, which would overturn the centuries-old convention of the monarch's eldest son assuming the throne.

Aware of public misgivings over his lover, Charles ruled out Camilla becoming queen once he becomes king.

The Telegraph's YouGov survey was conducted within hours of Thursday's announcement that Charles is to marry mother of two Camilla, 57, on April 8.

It found 41 per cent would prefer William to be the next monarch, with 37 per cent favouring Charles. A similar poll in November 2002 put Charles on 48 per cent and William on 28.

Early television straw polls, with no element of random selection, found most people were against the marriage.

Questions of the royal succession were overshadowed by newspaper debate over Camilla's new title, her wedding dress and the engagement ring.

"Love has conquered all," the top selling Sun tabloid said. "Charles is entitled to happiness in his life with a woman he has loved for so long. "

Papers carried front-page pictures of the diamond and platinum ring, which a beaming Camilla showed off with Charles at Windsor Castle, where they are to marry in April.

"I am just coming down to earth," said Camilla, who confirmed that Charles had followed tradition by going down on one knee to propose.

Wearing a pink gown and three strings of pearls, she posed for pictures in the splendour of the castle's gilt-lined Grand Reception Room. Charles, wearing a black bow tie and dinner jacket with red collar and cuffs, said only: "I am very happy. "

Charles was divorced in 1996 from Diana, who once said "there were three of us in this marriage" after her husband continued an affair with Camilla, whom he first met in 1970.

The establishment voice of the Times newspaper noted that it was hardly a "shotgun wedding".

- REUTERS