[JURIST] Lord Falconer [official profile], the Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom and the nation's highest legal officer, issued a written statement Wednesday that he was satisfied that the Marriage Act of 1949 allowed for the Royal Family [official website] to have civil ceremony weddings. Some doubt had been raised [BBC story overview] by BBC's Panorama program that the Royal Family was prohibited from civil ceremonies under the Act. Lord Falconer acknowledged that different courts had stated different interpretations of the Marriage Act in the past, but said that those opinions had been 'overcautious' and that the UK government was satisfied that Lord Falconer's interpretation of the Act was correct. Prince Charles [official profile] and Camilla Parker Bowles, both divorced and thus barred from receiving a Church of England [official website] wedding, are scheduled to wed in a civil ceremony on April 8. BBC News has in depth coverage of Charles and Camilla, as well as local coverage of Lord Falconer's statement.