THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and other senior churchmen say marriage for the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles is “the right thing for them, for marriage, for the monarchy and for the Church”.

Dr Williams, who has been consistently opposed to a church wedding for the couple, said: “I am pleased that Prince Charles and Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles have decided to take this important step.”

A church wedding would have been seen as ill-advised because of the nature of the couple’s relationship.

The Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, said the decision to marry was good in every respect. “It is good for marriage, good for the monarchy and right that the Church of England should be enabling it to happen in this way.”

But he said it was important that the couple had opted for a civil ceremony.

Bishop Scott-Joynt, who steered the Church’s relaxation of its rules on marriage after divorce through the General Synod in 2002, and who was yesterday speaking for Dr Williams, said: “The Church did allow for the option of a civil marriage followed by a service of prayer and dedication. My sense is that this is exactly the right way forward, granted who these people are and all the publicity there has been over the years.”

Bishops and clergy welcomed news of a marriage because it will bring to an end the discomfort at the prospect of a future Supreme Governor and monarch in an open but unmarried relationship with a divorcée.

The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales also backed the wedding.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, said: “I know that Catholics will join with me at this time in praying for the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles and in wishing them every happiness.”

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev David Stancliffe, who in December floated the prospect of a civil union for the couple, said: “I welcome the news that Prince Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles are to marry, and I wish them well. Their decision to seek a civil ceremony followed by a service of prayer and dedication is entirely appropriate.”

The Bishop of Hereford, the Right Rev Anthony Priddis, who chairs the Church group Flame, on marriage and family life, said: “I am very happy that two people loving each other and living together should decide to get married.

“I am also happy that they will be having a civil marriage followed by a blessing which is the appropriate way in the circumstances.”

He said Dr Williams had followed the Church’s guidelines for the remarriage of divorcees and the royal couple had been treated in the same way as any others would be in their circumstances. Bishop Priddis said: “The Church is committed to remarriage but with the pastoral issues being considered. Obviously that has been done in this case.

“A blessing does not equate with condoning what has happened before but it does recognise a new beginning. I wish them both well. I don’t think that today’s announcement will change the practice of the Church of England in relation to the marriage of divorced people.”

However, the marriage was criticised by evangelical groupings such as Reform. Rod Thomas, its spokesman, said it would compromise the Prince of Wales’s “moral authority” when he comes to serve as Supreme Governor of the Church and would add to pressures for disestablishment.

The Evangelical Alliance was also cautious. It said: “In theological and spiritual terms, we acknowledge that the couple’s previous divorces, their documented adultery and the nature of their extra-marital relationship up to this point, do present difficulties for many of our Anglican members and others with respect to Charles’s suitability to govern the Church of England.”

Traditionalists, meanwhile, have urged the Prince of Wales to reject the modern language in the Church of England’s authorised service of blessing. The conflict is embarrassing for the Prince because he is Patron of the Prayer Book Society, which promotes the use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Although details have yet to be finalised, Dr Williams’s office said that he had accepted an invitation to preside at a “service of prayer and dedication” as set out in the new prayer book, Common Worship, after the civil service. But the Prayer Book Society wants its Lay Patron to use traditional language comparable with that used in the 1662 marriage service when he commits himself to his new wife.

Meg Pointer, company secretary of the Prayer Book Society, said: “I would hope he would not use the Common Worship service.” She said a service could be “put together” using the language from the Book of Common Prayer.

The Church of England’s ban on the remarriage of divorcees in church was put in place by Act of Convocation in 1957.

In November 2002, after much debate on the floor of the General Synod, the Church gave its blessing to divorced couples seeking a church wedding

It has been denied that the change was made partly to accommodate the wishes of the future King

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