Royal wedding jinxed by bad weather and lack of friendly faces

Published on Thursday 7 April 2005 02:17

THEY thought it couldn’t get any worse - but it just might.

When Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles make their way up Windsor High Street to the Guildhall on Saturday, they are likely to be met by Arctic winds, temperatures as low as 6C, rain or even snow, according to the Met Office.

The atrocious weather conditions predicted are the latest in a series of setbacks so numerous that even the Queen was reported to have described it as "jinxed".

Yesterday, it also emerged that a secret plan to line the streets with "friendly" faces had also gone awry. Staff from dozens of charities and institutions associated with the prince had been asked to line the route from the register office to Windsor Castle. The "friendly crowd" had been invited after fears that fans of Diana, Princess of Wales, or opponents of the monarchy may try to disrupt the day.

But after the marriage was switched to Saturday from Friday, to allow the prince to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, many of the crowd had not been informed of changes.

A spokesman for the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet confirmed they had been offered four places for staff, but that no update had been confirmed.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: "It may be that there are some people we haven’t got round to calling yet. The entire day is progressing as it was, although we accept that some people won’t be able to come along as originally planned."

There have also been calls from the Thames Valley Police Authority, for the prince to help foot the security bill, which is higher on a Saturday due to overtime costs.

Meanwhile, Mrs Parker Bowles received a boost with a place on the Harpers & Queen best-dressed list. The magazine placed the woman famously attached to tweed in its "showstoppers" category of women who know how to dress for a big occasion. She is ranked alongside Kylie Minogue and Naomi Campbell.

The news failed to tease any secrets out of the team behind Mrs Parker Bowles’s wedding outfit. All that couturier Anna Valentine, milliner Philip Treacy and shoe creator Linda Bennett would say is that her wedding outfit will be elegant, glamorous and feminine.