Prince Charles postpones wedding

The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles has been postponed to Saturday, a day after the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Clarence House has announced.

A spokesman said the Prince -- who took the decision in consultation with Parker Bowles after cutting short his skiing holiday in Switzerland -- will represent the Queen at the Pope's funeral at the Vatican on Friday instead.

Camilla will not be accompanying the Prince to the funeral.

'Camilla will be Queen'

"HRH the Prince will attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome. As a mark of respect His Royal Highness and Mrs Parker Bowles have decided to postpone their wedding until Saturday," said the statement.

No further details were given.

As per the original schedule Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles were to marry in a civil ceremony

on Friday and then attend a Church service in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. This was to be followed by 45-minute church blessing led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Queen rejects Charles marriage plans

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have already announced they will not be attending the civil ceremony but will be at the blessing.

PTI quoted the Daily Express, a London tabloid, as reporting that the Queen had let it be known that she disapproved of his 34-year old on-off relationship with Camilla and felt that the heir to the throne had damaged the standing of the monarchy by going ahead with the marriage.

Earlier, Clarence House, the official palace of Prince Charles, had said that "The wedding is still scheduled to take place on Friday but we remain sensitive to events that are happening elsewhere around the world and are continuing to assess the situation."