'New laws needed' to let Charles wed

Emergency legislation may be needed for Prince Charles to marry Camilla Parker Bowles, a senior constitutional expert has warned.

Former Attorney General Sir Nicholas Lyell, QC, suggested that new laws would need to be rushed through parliament to allow Prince Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles to wed.

He is the latest to warn that the royal marriage may be illegal. Preparations are already in chaos after the ceremony was switched to a register office.

Speaking of the Government's advice to the Queen, the Conservative Attorney General from 1992 to 1997, said: "I don't think she has been given enough advice. It is not really clear that this situation has been properly thought about. [I feel] some disquiet, because the last thing one wants is the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles, or the Queen herself, embarrassed by this question."

Sir Nicholas said that, as far as he understood, the law governing civil marriage in England and Wales, the Marriage Act 1949, excluded the Royal Family. This would leave them subject to laws which only permit marriage in a church.

The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer has claimed that the 1949 Act does cover the Royal Family.