LONDON, Feb 21: The office of Prince Charles acknowledged on Monday that his April 8 wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles must be open to the public free of charge.

"Yes, that is our understanding, that according to the law, members of the public will have to be allowed to the civil ceremony," said a spokeswoman at Clarence House, the heir to the throne's London residence. But she said, "there are a lot of security implications with this wedding." The wedding will take place at Windsor Guildhall, just down the road from Windsor Castle.

Stephen Cretney, a legal expert, told The Guardian newspaper that under the Marriage (Approved Premises) Regulations - which enabled civil weddings to be held in places other than register offices - the public has to be admitted.

"Public access to any ceremony of marriage solemnised in approved premises must be permitted without charge," the law states. Cretney, author of "Family Law in 20th-century Britain" had earlier pointed out that Charles, 56, and Parker Bowles, 576, could not wed at Windsor Castle - as previously planned - unless it was converted into a venue for other civil marriages.

The upcoming wedding between the two divorcees has been dogged with legal problems, with many experts in Britain arguing whether or not the union is actually legal under existing law.

According to Cretney, members of the royal family have no power under the 1949 Marriage Law to contract civil weddings. He has urged the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to introduce a short bill that gives royals the authority to wed in civil ceremonies in order to clarify the situation. Officials at Clarence House said they were relying on the government's advice that a civil ceremony was legal, The Guardian said. -AFP