The Grand National has become the latest treasured institution to fall foul of the chaos surrounding the Prince of Wales's accident-prone wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles.

Organisers of the event - which attracts around 10 million viewers and is one of the highlights of the sporting year - have agreed to delay the steeplechase by 25 minutes to ensure it does not clash with BBC1's live coverage of the delayed Royal wedding on Saturday.

The announcement to shunt the race back until 4.10pm follows confirmation from Clarence House today that the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles will exchange vows in a civil ceremony in Windsor Guildhall at 12.30pm.

The couple were forced yesterday to postpone their wedding by a day after news from the Vatican that it would clash with the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Reports earlier today suggested that the wedding would start at 9.30am, but it will now start just 90 minutes before the first of three further civil weddings in the same venue. Local couple Grace Beesley and Fraser Moores are due to marry at 2pm

The 30 guests watching the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles take their vows, which includes all senior royals apart from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, will retire to Windsor Castle afterwards ahead of a ceremony of religious blessing in St George’s Chapel at 2.30pm.

That ceremony is expected to last around 45 minutes and there were concerns that BBC1 would not have enough time to switch to live coverage of the horseracing from Aintree, where the National was due to get under way at 3.45pm.

Announcing the decision to delay the National, Charles Barnett, managing director at Aintree, said: "We have made this decision in consultation with the BBC in order to offer members of the public the best possible afternoon’s viewing

Andrew Pierce, The Times People columnist, said: "I've no doubt that the moment the service is out of the way the Queen, the Princess Royal and probably the bride and groom themselves will all troop off to the nearest television set to watch the really important event of the day.

"On a more serious note, the Grand National was originally taken into account in the timing of the blessing because it could have put the BBC - whose outside broadcast team regards the race as the 'crown jewels' of its annual coverage - in an impossible position."

Sporting Index has already opened a book on which event will get the best ratings, predicting 18 million viewers for Charles and Camilla and 13 million for the horses.

Paddy Harverson, the Prince’s Communications Secretary, said the 750 guests attending the chapel prayer service would not be waiting for longer than they would have been if the wedding had gone ahead on Friday, as originally planned.

"There are only 30 guests attending the 12.30 service. They are all family and friends and will go to the Castle to relax before the blessing," he said.

Mr Harverson insisted there would be no disruption to Miss Beesley and Mr Moores and the two other couples marrying in the Guildhall that day.

"Their guests will be able to get in and out quite happily," Mr Harverson added.

Roads around Windsor are expected to be closed from early in the morning and security will be tight in the town amid the presence of so many high-profile guests.

Charles and his bride-to-be decided yesterday to delay their wedding by a day to allow him to attend the Pope's funeral. Also attending the Vatican ceremony will be Tony Blair, and Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury who is to perform the blessing at Windsor next day.

The decision to postpone the royal wedding came after a series of consultations between Clarence House, Lambeth Palace, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. The Prince, who was on a skiing holiday in Klosters, also spoke with Mrs Parker Bowles, who agreed to the delay.

Buckingham Palace said that the Prince would be representing the Queen at the Vatican on Friday. "That must take priority," a Palace spokeswoman

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