UK service: Prince Charles has postponed his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles until Saturday so that he can represent Queen Elizabeth at the Pope's funeral in Rome on Friday morning.
Clarence House confirmed the decision yesterday after the prince cut short his skiing holiday to attend a service marking the death of Pope John Paul II at Westminster Cathedral.
The decision means that prime minister Tony Blair and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will also be able to attend the funeral, as was their wish.
It is understood it had always been intended Prince Charles should represent Queen Elizabeth as head of state at the Pope's funeral, and the decision to postpone the royal wedding for 24 hours was taken as soon as the Vatican announced the funeral arrangements.
The prince's spokesman said Mrs Parker Bowles had agreed with Prince Charles this was "absolutely the right thing to do". Some critical media attention last night focused on Sunday's indication from Clarence House that the wedding planned for Friday would proceed in any event.
However, Prince Charles's friend and biographer, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, insisted that once the Vatican's plans had been made clear, Prince Charles would have regarded the wedding on the same day as "an incompatible event".
Dimbleby, who will be attending the wedding, said the prince's view that it would have been "bizarre" to proceed would have sprung from "his own deep religious position".
The prince's press secretary, Paddy Harverson, said it was expected that the arrangements for Saturday's civil ceremony, followed by a church blessing in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, would be largely the same as previously planned.
"The wedding is still going to be a good day but it has just been pushed back 24 hours," he said. "Hopefully, the majority of guests that were going on Friday will be there on Saturday."
Mrs Parker Bowles joined Prince Charles at the Vespers of the Dead led by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor at Westminster Cathedral.
The royal couple arrived soon after Mr Blair and his wife, Cherie. Others in the VIP congregation included former prime ministers Baroness Thatcher and John Major, the Conservative leader Michael Howard and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.
Foreign secretary Jack Straw was present alongside chancellor Gordon Brown, health secretary John Reid, education secretary Ruth Kelly and Commons speaker Michael Martin. Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and London mayor Ken Livingstone were also present.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor paid tribute to the Pope, saying he was "one of history's greatest Christians" who would "surely" be known as "Pope John Paul the Great".
"This was was an epic papacy, which shall be remembered, always, for the remarkable strength of character and persistence with which Pope John Paul proclaimed the values of the kingdom of God," the cardinal told worshippers.
The cardinal also spoke of the Pope's prolific travelling. "Having crossed the world for so long, in his last years the world crossed back to him, gathering round his bed of pain to give thanks.
"That is why the abiding image of his papacy may well be the final one: of St Peter's Square on Friday night filled with young people standing in serene silence."
And he added: "For all that people have tried to place him in categories of right and left, radical and conservative, Pope John Paul II confounded them time and again. He was too big for those categories, because, simply, he preached Christ crucified and risen, and all that flowed from that magnificent fact."
What made his message so coherent was his experience of suffering at an early age, and his relationship with God. "That is why, dear friends, he has been described as one of history's greatest Christians, and why he shall surely be called Pope John Paul the Great," the cardinal said.
The cardinal ended his tribute using the Pope's own words, imploring his followers not to fear the future.
"Every human person has been created in the image and likeness of the one who is the origin of all that is. With these gifts and with the help of God's grace we can build a civilisation worthy of the human person, a true culture of freedom. We can and we must do so.
"In doing so, we shall see that the tears of this century have prepared the ground for a new springtime of the human spirit."
Commemorative coins marking the Prince of Wales's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles are having rapidly to be remodelled.
Britain's Royal Mint unfortunately chose today to unveil the precious metal medallions being issued to celebrate the marriage.
Images released showed the original date "8th April 2005" printed on the reverse under the prince's feathers. A spokeswoman for the Royal Mint said: "The presses were due to run but we're now having to switch the date. Everybody's been waiting on the news."
The medals, which cannot be used as currency, are being produced in gold, silver and nickel-brass and cost £475 sterling, £34.95 and £9.95. - (PA)