Royal wedding a 'shambles'

Staff at Windsor Castle have spoken of their frustration over "shambolic" preparations for Prince Charles's wedding.

Uncertainty over dates, location and guest numbers has driven those responsible for catering and administration close to "mutiny" and walking out.

With only 24 hours to go they have still not been issued with a finalised guest list.

As recently as Monday many at Windsor were convinced that the wedding was going to be relocated to Balmoral to avoid further intrusive coverage.

But they have been thrown into "utter confusion" by the rescheduling at such short notice - confusion which has grown greater every day this week amid a flurry of conflicting instructions from Clarence House.

One senior member of Windsor's administrative staff said today: "You would expect a royal reception to run like clockwork - but this one is likely to be more like a Carry On film.

"We keep being given contradictory orders by different people. The end result is chaos.

"Even before the date was changed on Monday preparations were far from easy. With 750 guests to cater for, a [massive] security presence and the eyes of the world focused on the castle this was always going to be a testing day.

"But since the date was changed everything has become 10 times harder. Numbers of guests have not been finalised. It's been impossible to contact some people about the change of date - we just don't know how many will turn out.

"That has made it difficult for the catering staff who have had to change their food orders at short notice when it was put back a day."

He went on: "If it all goes wrong, it will be the staff at Windsor who carry the can which is not fair. They are working overtime to try and make this a success but they do not feel they have been given enough support." Another member of the royal household said: "It has been very difficult to find out exactly what is going on. The castle has been awash with rumours about dates and numbers since the wedding was announced. It has been a case of smoke and mirrors.

"Most of us were convinced up until Monday that the wedding would be relocated to Balmoral at a later date. Balmoral is much better able to host an event like this."

Of the 750 invited guests, many know Charles and Camilla "only vaguely", the source said. "There are perhaps 80 or 90 close friends among the guests but the rest are what you might call rent-a-crowd types. A lot of people have been expressing surprise that they have been invited.

"And while many of them might have been pleased to have been asked initially, since the change of date and all the accompanying controversy, there seems to be a view among them that attending is turning out to be a chore rather than a pleasure. You'd be surprised how many people have expressed annoyance that the wedding clashes with the Grand National."

More than 20,000 people are expected to crowd into Windsor's streets to see the royal couple, threatening gridlock for the town.

Local authorities fear traffic congestion as people attempt to drive to the event, and only a handful of extra trains have been put on.

Police are already concerned that their resources will be severely stretched by the burden of the wedding combined with four football matches in London tomorrow.

Roads are due to be closed from midnight as part of a security operation to protect the wedding which has already been hit by embarrassment, when two reporters from The Sun drove a van containing a fake bomb into the castle.

The blessing is to be televised live on both BBC and ITV and is expected to be watched by tens of millions of people worldwide.