PRINCE Charles should never be allowed to marry Camilla Parker Bowles and become king - for one simple reason.

The monarch is supposed to be a unifying figurehead for the country and stand above issues (political, social, moral etc) of dissent.

His determination to marry her will split the country down the middle.

I and many more like me will never accept him as king if he marries her, even if she isn't his queen. Under common law, a wife automatically takes the titles of her husband. The wife of the king is queen and it takes an Act of Parliament to prevent this.

The Times newspaper wrote in 1936, at the time of the abdication crisis: "The constitution is to be amended in order that she (Wallis Simpson) may carry in solitary prominence the brand of unfitness for the Queen's throne". Those words are equally applicable today.

If he marries her, he should do us all a favour and renounce his right to the throne. He would be a disastrous king anyway!

Colin Henson,

Moorcroft Road,

Woodthorpe,

York.

Updated: 11:02 Friday, February 18, 2005