Plans for Prince William's confirmation on Sunday have been marred by reports that his family is bickering over the guest list and may have insulted the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The private service affirming William's acceptance of Church of England teachings will be a milestone for the 15-year-old, who is destined to be king and head of the church - he is second in line to the throne behind his father, Prince Charles. But the ceremony has been blighted by his status as child of the world's most spectacularly broken marriage.There have been scattered, but steady, reports of spats over the guest list. The paper says Princess Diana was furious that Tiggy Legge-Bourke, companion to William and 12-year-old Prince Harry when they are with their father, would be a guest and has helped organize confirmation plans.
And the Daily Mail said Saturday that Diana was annoyed to find that former staff members with whom she had strained relations also had been invited.
Now, the Daily Mail reports, Legge-Bourke, 31, has decided not to be present at the confirmation service.
When William does stand in Windsor Castle's 500-year-old Saint George's Chapel on Sunday, he will not be confirmed by Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, a member of the church's evangelical wing.
In a break with recent tradition, William will be confirmed by the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, a traditionalist.
But Carey "wholeheartedly approves" of the choice of Bishop Chartres, the archbishop's Lambeth Palace office said.