JUST days before the announcement that the Queen is to stay away from the marriage ceremony of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles a notice appeared on the board at Chippenham Register Office to announce the wedding.

Between dozens of other names on Friday were those of His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George The Prince of Wales and Camilla Rosemary Parker Bowles.

The official announcement had to be published in Chippenham because Mrs Parker Bowles has her home a few miles from the town at Reybridge near Lacock.

A separate notice has been posted in Cirencester, the town closest to the Tetbury, home of the Duke of Cornwall, Highgrove House. It stated that Mrs Parker Bowles, 57, and Prince Charles, 56, would wed at The Guildhall, High Street, Windsor.

The notice declared both of their previous marriages to be dissolved and under the heading of occupation, listed Charles as Prince of the United Kingdom.

Diane Waddington, superintendent registrar at Chippenham register office, went to Clarence House on Thursday to collect the notice of marriage. She said it was very unusual to have famous names on the notice board in Chippenham, but it was a nice coup for the town.

The Queen's decision to only attend the church blessing following the civil ceremony is the latest problem to plague the wedding plans.

Princes William and Harry, along with Mrs Parker Bowles's children, Tom and Laura, will be present at the April 8 civil wedding in the Guildhall at Windsor, it is understood.

Buckingham Palace said: "The Queen will not be attending the civil ceremony because she is aware that the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles wanted to keep the occasion low key.

"The Queen and the rest of the Royal Family will be going to the service of dedication at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

"She is very pleased to be giving the wedding reception at the castle."

Plans for the big day have been plagued by problems ever since it was announced two weeks ago.

First in a string of setbacks, the couple decided to switch the venue of the wedding from Windsor Castle to the Guildhall in Windsor High Street.

It is said that it would have caused too much disruption to license the royal castle and could pave the way for others to marry there.

The register office wedding will by followed by a prayer service at St George's Chapel, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Doubts have also surfaced over the legality of the marriage. Legal experts said the couple could not marry in a civil ceremony in England because the 1836 Marriage Act bars members of the royal family from doing so. But the lord chancellor has insisted the ceremony is legal.

It emerged earlier this week that the Queen was snubbing her son's marriage ceremony. Speculation is mounting on reasons for this including security, disapproval or the fact that the Supreme Governor of the Church of England could not attend a civil wedding.