Just as the Prince of Wales might have been justified in thinking that the tide of British public opinion was turning in his favour, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, has entered the fray and spoiled the party.
Quite why Dr Carey decided to speak out yesterday on the crisis facing the Anglican Church should Prince Charles remarry is unclear. But his charge - that remarriage "would create a crisis for the church" - has astonished observers, who seem to have conveniently ignored the prince's relationship with Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.
"All that Prince Charles has to be is the next heir to the throne. So the very fact that he is divorced is not an issue at all," was how Dr Carey approached the issue at a news conference in Australia to mark the 150th anniversary of the Australian Anglican Church. He then went on to state the problem remarriage would pose for the church.
His comments were immediately seized upon by the Tory peer and constitutional historian Lord Blake, who claimed the church could not block the prince's accession to the British throne.
"I don't personally believe it would create a major difficulty. I think public opinion would accept it and that's what matters," Lord Blake said.
Constitutional experts have wrestled with the issue of remarriage since Prince Charles's divorce and his relationship with Mrs Parker Bowles became known. While the Church of England may have begun as a result of divorce, they point out, it is now publicly opposed to remarriage while the former spouse remains alive. Therein lies the problem for the prince should he become the next British king and supreme governor of the Church of England. Expressing his surprise at the archbishop's comments, the Archdeacon of York, the Venerable George Austin, attacked the church for its "apparent hypocrisy". The church had tried to pretend that "a mistress who does exist doesn't exist", and it was "about time" the situation was clarified, he said.
However, the church's position on remarriage had not been helped by the archbishop's comments, the archdeacon claimed.
"I don't think it would help the institution of marriage either," he said. "If the Church did change its view and simply let Charles remarry, what would that say in compassion, or lack of it, to all those others who have been hurt - that we don't care? It does produce all sorts of problems and issues and crises."