LEGAL objections to the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles were swept aside yesterday, and the Royal Mail revealed the design of two stamps to commemorate the wedding.

Len Cook, the Registrar General, said that none of the 11 objections that he had examined had raised genuine obstacles to the issue of a marriage certificate.

However, a new problem arose yesterday for the Prince and his fiancée. The Rev Paul Williamson, 56, Vicar of St George’s, Feltham, West London, who lodged one of the protests, threatened to enter the ceremony at Windsor Guildhall to make a public objection. The Marriage Act 1994, which permitted marriages in places other than register offices, made plain that the public had the right to be admitted. Clarence House, now in talks with Scotland Yard about policing the event, is hoping that the public will be barred on security grounds.

The principal ground for objection to the union on April 8 related to the civil ceremony. Under the Marriage Act 1836, the Royal Family were barred from marrying outside the Church. The Marriage Act 1949 superseded the 1836 Act, but included the clause: “Nothing in this Act shall affect any law or custom relating to the marriage of members of the Royal Family.”

Mr Cook and Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor, agreed that the Marriage Act, combined with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998, allowed a civil ceremony for the heir to the throne.

The postage stamps, the first royal set to be issued since Prince William’s 21st birthday, will be issued on April 8, the day of the wedding. The couple are featured at the Highland Games and at Birkhall, on the Queen’s Balmoral estate.

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