Scholar: Prince's marriage may be illegal

OXFORD, England, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A British legal expert says the royal family got bad advice from the Lord Chancellor on the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles.

The couple married last year in a civil ceremony in Windsor, followed by a religious blessing of the marriage in the chapel at Windsor Castle.

Stephen Cretney, an academic lawyer at Exeter College, Oxford, told a legal gathering he believes members of the royal family have been barred from civil ceremonies since 1836,the Times of London reported.

When Charles married, he announced that his wife -- whose first marriage ended in divorce -- would take the title Duchess of Cornwall and would use the title Princess Consort, not queen, if he succeeds his mother, Queen Elizabeth.

Cretney said the civil ceremony could cloud Camilla's status if Charles becomes king, as well as her right to inherit his property.

Charles' great-uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated when Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told him he could not marry a divorcee without having her become queen.