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Charles to wed Camilla.

Britain's Prince Charles is to marry his long-term lover, Camilla Parker Bowles, British media reports said quoting official royal sources.

A full statement is to be released by the prince's office at Clarence House shortly, the UK's Press Association reported.

No date has been released at this stage, PA said, but reports suggested it would be April 6.

The reported announcement, four days before St. Valentine's Day, came as a surprise.

Prince Charles's love life had been the cause of much speculation in Britain since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris car crash in 1997.

Parker Bowles, 58, has been the significant love of Charles' life in recent years but has always faced an uphill struggle to rival his former wife in the public affection.

Since then, and after several years of carefully choreographed appearances together, Parker Bowles has now been widely accepted as Charles' long-term partner.

She openly shares official rooms with the prince, 56, at his Clarence House residence in London.

Diana was divorced from Charles -- heir to Queen Elizabeth II -- when she died. Charles's marriage is a sensitive issue because Parker Bowles is divorced and her former husband Andrew, a former army officer, is still alive.

Charles would be the supreme governor of the Church of England if he took the throne, and some Anglicans remain opposed to the remarriage of divorcees.

The church is officially neutral on the issue, but former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey recently urged the couple to marry.

Parker Bowles would be stepmother to Charles and Diana's two sons -- Prince William and Prince Harry, second and third in line to the British throne.

Diana blamed the friendship between Charles and Parker Bowles for the failure of her marriage. "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," Diana said in a 1995 TV interview.

In 1994, Prince Charles admitted in a TV documentary that he had strayed from his marriage vows, but insisted the infidelity happened only after the marriage was "irretrievably broken down, us both having tried." It was widely assumed, but never confirmed, that Parker Bowles was the other woman.

Dr David Starkey, historian and constitutional expert, told Reuters: "The issue is whether she will take the full style and title of Princess of Wales and whether any children would have any place in the succession.

"She would have to take the status of Prince Charles and ultimately that of queen unless there is legislation passed to the contrary."

Hurdle

CNN's Richard Quest said that the death of the Queen Mother, Charles' grandmother, had apparently removed the major hurdle to his marriage to Parker Bowles.

Friends of the prince welcomed news of his impending marriage.

Conservative MP Nicholas Soames said he was "absolutely delighted." "I'm very, very happy for both the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles. I think it's wonderful," he said.

Diana's biographer, Lady Colin Campbell, said that Camilla is a marked contrast to Diana, preferring simple country pursuits to a life of Hollywood-style glamour.

She said she expects a much simpler wedding to the major spectacle of Charles's wedding to Diana in London's St. Paul's Cathedral in July 1981.

Campbell said that Charles's office Clarence House had mounted a long-running campaign to make marriage between the couple acceptable to the British people.

Support

An opinion poll in June last year showed Britons would narrowly approve of a marriage between Charles and his partner.

A second marriage for the Prince of Wales would have the support of 32 percent of the British public, with 29 percent opposed, according to the Populus poll conducted for The Times newspaper.

However, it was revealed that most Britons -- 38 percent -- did not care whether Charles and Parker Bowles married.

Three years ago Prince Charles answered a question about whether he planned to marry Parker Bowles by saying, "You can't be certain about anything."

On an interview given to the UK tabloid Daily Mail to mark the 25th anniversary of The Prince's Trust, Prince Charles was asked whether he planned to remarry. He said: "Will I be alive tomorrow? Who knows what the Good Lord has planned. You can't be certain about anything. I don't know.

"I just think it's important, particularly as I get older, to think about the journey that's coming next."

The announcement comes before the completion of the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Former head of the Metropolitan Police Sir John Stevens is still investigating the car crash in which she died in August 1997. The inquest will follow this. (Agencies/MP)