Question raised about wedding plan

LONDON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A British legal expert says emergency legislation may be needed to legalize the civil marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Former Attorney General Nicholas Lyell says legislation clarifying the legal position must be in place prior to the April 8 wedding, or else the couple might have to hold it in Scotland, the Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

"It is not really clear that this situation has been properly thought about. (I feel) some disquiet, because the last thing one wants is for the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Parker Bowles, or the Queen herself, embarrassed by this question," Nichols said.

He said he thought the Marriage Act 1949, which governs the law on civil marriage in England and Wales, excluded the Royal Family, leaving them subject to earlier laws permitting only marriage in a church.

Other officials have said the 1949 Act applied to the Royal Family. But Nicholas said it contradicted advice his predecessor gave Princess Margaret in 1955 when she gave up plans to marry Capt. Peter Townsend, who had been divorced.